I would imagine by now that the dear empathic reader must have some sense of frustration, exhaustion, over-extension, resentment and boredom. Believe me when I say I am not inflicting these on you out of malice or to provide disclaimers for the frailties of the following article, but simply to underline the difficulties the "mummies" of my generation of academic feminists have in saying "no!" I was active in the founding of CCLOW at Banff in 1979; I served on its Board for six years.

However, instead of telling myself I have paid my dues and saying "no" to the redoubtable editors of Women's Education des femmes, I find myself trapped by my loyalty to the organisation, my abiding interest in Women's Studies, and my sense of having played a minor role in the history of knowledge through my activism, research, writing and editing. I do not know how much it will take for me to feel finally that I have earned the right to say "no" ...sometimes.

So, ten years later, I must here express the hope that the next generations of feminist scholars, writers and educators will be able to say "no" to the sisters without explanation, in full confidence that there are others who can and will say "yes." It is only through that kind of network and the creation of that sort of solidarity and consciousness that my myriad successors will be able to keep their eyes on that which is in front of them without guilt or regret.

A Response

Thank you, Greta, for pointing out in a gentle way how we as a "younger generation" (some on the editorial board will be mystified by that) stimulated some frustration, exhaustion, over-extension, resentment and boredom in you. We have been reminded of three principles in feminist organizing: we must set realistic deadlines, we must communicate more frequently and thoroughly with each other, (as you know, the initial invitation came from one member of our volunteer board and the follow up was by our paid staff person who did not talk with each other in the interim), and we must ask for reasonable amounts of work.

Our initial request was based on a "work in progress" announcement in a sister publication which said you were preparing a history of women's studies in Canada. We did indeed mean to convey the possibility of choice when we asked if you could meet the suggested deadline: the choice between "Yes, I can do it," "No, but I can do it later," and "No, I can't do it." As usual, it seems that our work in the feminist movement is difficult and sometimes impossible if we do not clearly present all good choices while encouraging any of them among others, and especially among ourselves.

The Editorial Board

Ten years ago Women's Studies university programmes were introduced with media publicity and fanfare. In 1989 many Canadian universities still do not have full Women's Studies programmes. Some are in the process of introducing them, but the Canadian media do not seem to consider "women's issues" nearly as newsworthy as Meech Lake, terrorism or the "War-on-Drugs". For women's issues to be newsworthy they must have a sensationalistic "frisson," such as the current ruling on women in combat in the Canadian Armed Forces. Women's Studies is now in the rather ignominious position of being neither newsworthy nor sufficiently institutionalized to be fully entrenched in the academic environment.


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