Inspiring Women

From the pages of Herstory, 319 of the Inspiring Women who have made Canadian lives what they are today.

*Introduction by Margaret Atwood

The history of women in Canada is one of starting out struggling to feed and clothe their families and ending up writing the great Canadian novel. Inspiring Women charts women's course from subsistence to cultural production.

Women's lives historically have been very complex and interconnected - being a woman you can never be just one thing. Nellie McClung, for example, was a writer, reformer, politician and mother. So the themes of the six chapters are set for the sake of focus rather than to compartmentalize. The chapters are: In the Beginning, A Great Race of Women, My Sister's Keeper, The Door Steadily Opens, The Long Distance Race, and Voices and Visions.

The text is accompanied with over 150 black and white photos, some historical, some contemporary, that also portray the women of Canadian herstory. As you read through these pages, you will follow the ebb and flow of women's history and be carried along by the tide of impressive, courageous and inspiring women.