Written in a scholarly vein, the essays that make up Challenging Times were originally presented at a conference attended by feminist academics in May 1989. Of the twenty-two contributors, twenty teach and do research at Canadian and American Universities, or did at the time this book was published.

The topics these women write about include historical comparisons of feminist activism in Canada and the U.S., a theoretical analysis of violence against women, and numerous essays on academic feminism, reproductive rights and women's position in capitalist economies. Contributors include Margrit Eichler, Glenda Simms, Marjorie Griffin Cohen and Monique Bégin.

The difficulties I encountered with this book begin with the introduction. In what editors Constance Backhouse and David H. Flaherty assert to be "necessary disclaimers," readers are informed that "this volume must ... be considered a very partial presentation [of the women's movement]" because material reflecting lesbian and disabled women's perspectives has not been included and the treatment of racism is not sufficiently integrated throughout the volume." As these issues are part and parcel of the women's movement, it is perplexing that a book can claim to be about the movement and ignore these important points of view. In addition, lack of clarification on whose Canada, whose U.S. and particularly whose women's movement starts the book on shaky ground.

These matters are best addressed in the submission made by Patricia A. Monture-Okanee, a Mohawk woman whose participation is described by Greta Hofmann Nemiroff in her concluding essay as "one of the most emotional moments of the conference." In her paper, Monture-Okanee clearly articulates her feelings and thoughts on being asked to speak about violence against women and what 'consent' means to a woman whose people never consented to the foreign legal system which was imposed on them.

She decides she cannot simply talk from the point of view of being a woman when being Mohawk is central to her identity. "I cannot stand up here and just be a woman for you," she told delegates. "I cannot and will not do it" Shortly after making her comments, she left the conference.