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Discrimination, Stereotyping and Equal Rights (30)

  • And We Knew How to Dance: Women in World War I
    And We Knew How to Dance: Women in World War I
    Maureen Judge 1993 55 min
    This feature documentary profiles 12 Canadian women who entered the male-dominated world of munitions factories and farm labour during World War I. In 1994, aged 86 to 101, these women recall their wartime work experiences and the ways in which their commitment and determination helped lead the way to postwar social changes for women.
  • Behind the Veil: Nuns
    Behind the Veil: Nuns
    Margaret Wescott 1984 2 h 10 min
    This feature documentary records the turbulent history and remarkable achievements of women in religion, from pre-Christian Celtic communities to the radical sisters of the 1980s. The history of nuns mirrors that of all women - in what we are taught about the past, women are almost invisible. Although today's one million nuns outnumber priests two to one, they still struggle to be heard by the all-male Roman Catholic hierarchy from which they are excluded. In Behind the Veil: Nuns, contemporary nuns speak candidly of their lives, their challenges, and their predecessors.
  • Careers and Cradles
    Careers and Cradles
    Jack Olsen 1947 11 min
    This short documentary is a snapshot of the revolutionary change in status enjoyed by women between the turn of the 20th century and 1947. The film notes the significance of this evolution, highlighting women who today command respect as leaders in government, industry, science and the arts. Women's organizations and leaders, among them Senator Cairine Wilson, symphony orchestra conductor Ethel Stark and Madame Thérèse Casgrain, discuss the challenges of their times.
  • For Angela
    For Angela
    Nancy Trites Botkin  &  Daniel Prouty 1993 21 min
    This short film portrays the experiences of Rhonda Gordon and her daughter, Angela, when a simple bus ride changes their lives in an unforeseeable way. When they are harassed by three boys, Rhonda finds the courage to take a unique and powerful stance against ignorance and prejudice. What ensues is a dramatic story of racism and empowerment.
  • Gender Matters: A Virtual Discussion on Violence Against Women
    Gender Matters: A Virtual Discussion on Violence Against Women
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    Dan Thornhill 2015 48 min
    As part of the Young Women's National Leadership Summit, the YWCA and the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) invited participants aged 17+ from across North America to take part in a conversation with three outstanding role models and leaders in the fight for women's rights. Focusing on the subject of gender-based violence, the panellists discussed the issues that women are facing today, and how we can work together to create a fairer and safer society for all.
  • Great Grand Mother
    Great Grand Mother
    Anne Wheeler  &  Lorna Rasmussen 1975 28 min
    This short film is an ode to the women who settled the Prairies, from the days of early immigration to 1916 - when Manitobans became the first women in Canada to receive the provincial vote - and beyond. Recollections of women are complemented by a series of quotations drawn from letters, diaries, and newspapers of the day, which are spoken over re-enacted scenes and archival photographs.
  • The Glass Ceiling
    The Glass Ceiling
    Sophie Bissonnette 1992 27 min
    This short documentary presents 5 women from a variety of backgrounds who use strategy, humour and determination to seek to attain equality in the workplace. Whether in the public service or on the shop floor, discrimination against women is taking on increasingly subtle forms, which makes it even more difficult to tackle and eliminate. Various obstacles combine to hold back the advancement of women in many sectors, particularly in middle management positions, where we are seeing the emergence of a new “female ghetto.”
  • How They Saw Us: Women at Work
    How They Saw Us: Women at Work
    Ann Pearson 1977 12 min
    This is an abridged version of a film made in 1958. The greater part of the film accepts as normal the waste of women's talents in repetitive or service jobs, while elevating this work to the status of a career.
  • How They Saw Us: Wings on Her Shoulder
    How They Saw Us: Wings on Her Shoulder
    Ann Pearson 1977 11 min
    This is a 1943 recruitment film. Although it specifically promises women jobs in post-war aviation, its primary message is that women fulfill support positions "so that men might fly."
  • How They Saw Us: Proudly She Marches
    How They Saw Us: Proudly She Marches
    Ann Pearson 1977 18 min
    A recruitment film made in 1943. Its words offer women the excitement and challenge of new kinds of work in the armed services. The visual message, however, suggests that this work is merely temporary and possibly even unnatural for women.
  • How They Saw Us: Needles and Pins
    How They Saw Us: Needles and Pins
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    Ann Pearson  &  Roger Blais 1977 10 min
    In this film about a factory seamstress, there is the substitution of glamor for genuine job satisfaction and advancement. The film was made in 1955.
  • How They Saw Us: Service in the Sky
    How They Saw Us: Service in the Sky
    Ann Pearson 1977 9 min
    Made in 1957, this film glamorizes a service job in which minor emergencies appear as serious and absorbing challenges. Marriage is assumed to be the natural end of the middle-class woman's working life.
  • The Housewife
    The Housewife
    Cathy Bennett 1975 6 min
    A study, in film animation, of a day in the life of a housewife, described without words, with a minimum of detail but with a perception all the more pertinent because of the simplicity of presentation. The film makes no judgments. It simply states the case, but serves as an apt starting point for any discussion of the role of women and the value of their work.
  • How They Saw Us: Is It a Woman's World?
    How They Saw Us: Is It a Woman's World?
    Ann Pearson 1977 29 min
    This film, made especially for television in 1956, embodies the conventional myth that women indirectly exercise power through their ability to manipulate men through sex and marriage.
  • Ikwe
    Ikwe
    Norma Bailey 1986 57 min
    Part of the Daughters of the Country series, this dramatic film features a young Ojibwa girl from 1770 who marries a Scottish fur trader and leaves home for the shores of Georgian Bay. Although the union is beneficial for her tribe, it results in hardship and isolation for Ikwe. Values and customs clash until, finally, the events of a dream Ikwe once had unfold with tragic clarity.
  • In Her Chosen Field
    In Her Chosen Field
    Barbara Evans 1989 28 min
    This striking documentary pays tribute to the importance of women farmers to the agricultural economy, and recognizes the invisible subsidy their labour provides to consumers. Farm women from various parts of Canada, ranging in age from their thirties to seventies, are shown running a variety of farm operations, including mixed farming in Saskatchewan, wheat farming in Manitoba and dairy farming in Ontario. The women also share their views on agriculture today and their attempt to deal with economic and social challenges.
  • Me and the Mosque
    Me and the Mosque
    Zarqa Nawaz 2005 52 min
    Using original animation, archival footage and personal interviews, this full-length documentary portrays the multiple relationships Canadian Muslim women entertain with Islam’s place of worship, the mosque. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. In North America, a large number of converts are women. Many are drawn to the religion because of its emphasis on social justice and spiritual equality between the sexes. Yet, many mosques force women to pray behind barriers, separate from men, and some do not even permit women to enter the building. Exploring all sides of the issue, the film examines the space – both physical and social – granted to women in mosques across the country.

    

Me and the Mosque was produced as part of the Reel Diversity Competition for emerging filmmakers of colour. Reel Diversity is a National Film Board of Canada initiative in partnership with CBC Newsworld.
  • Mistress Madeleine
    Mistress Madeleine
    Aaron Kim Johnston 1986 57 min
    Part of the Daughters of the Country series, this film, set in the 1850s, unfolds against the backdrop of the Hudson's Bay Company's monopoly of the fur trade. In protest, some Métis engage in trade with the Americans. Madeleine, the Métis common-law wife of a Hudson's Bay Company clerk, is torn between loyalty to her husband and loyalty to her brother, a freetrader. Even more shattering, a change in company policy destroys Madeleine's happy and secure life, forcing her to re-evaluate her identity.
  • Mother-To-Be
    Mother-To-Be
    Anne Claire Poirier 1969 1 h 15 min
    Can a woman fully achieve self-realization while at the same time giving herself to the role of wife and mother? This is one question raised in this film documentary. Introspective, partly biographical, the film delves into the emotions of joy, anticipation and anxiety that a young mother experiences during the last several weeks before the birth of her second child. There is some footage from Czechoslovakia concerning maternity: a natural childbirth in a hospital delivery room and state nursery care for the children of working mothers.
  • Plenty of Nothing
    Plenty of Nothing
    Dagmar Gueissaz-Teufel 1982 55 min
    Half a million wives work with their husbands in family-run businesses, but most have no legal title to any part of the operation. This documentary focuses on several farm wives who are seeking their fair share of the family farm. In frank and friendly discussions with their husbands and with financial advisers, the women learn about co-ownership. The importance of having a legal arrangement becomes clear when a former farm wife tells how she lost everything she thought she owned when she and her husband divorced. Filmed in Québec's fertile Richelieu Valley, Plenty of Nothing encourages women to recognize the economic value of their work and to seek the legal recognition of their status and of their right to an equitable financial share.
  • Rupture
    Rupture
    Najwa Tlili 1998 45 min
    They believed they were creating a household and living a new life, but they were humiliated and tormented. What Fadhila and Roula have in common is that they're women, Arab, immigrants and have been sexually assaulted by their husbands. In order to break down the walls of silence, they have bravely chosen to tell their stories. Their accounts are complemented by discussions in Montreal with women's social workers, members of the Arab community and a lawyer specializing in Canadian immigration. To the sound of the melodies beautifully sung by the diva Aïcha Redouane, the film considers the question of unfamiliar cultural values and women's rights in the current social context. In French with English subtitles.
  • Robes of War
    Robes of War
    Michèle Cournoyer 2008 5 min
    This animated short is a lyrical exploration of the impact of war on women, their bodies and their families. Bringing a feminist sensibility to a contemporary issue, it looks at what happens when war insinuates itself inside the very being of a woman—she who once gave life.
  • Some American Feminists
    Some American Feminists
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    Luce Guilbeault Nicole Brossard , … 1977 55 min
    This documentary is composed of a series of interviews, combined with newsreel footage, that place the American feminist moment in historical perspective. Six of the movement's founding women, including Betty Friedan and Kate Millett, discuss the issues that most concern them. A film that remains relevant, even today.
  • A Score for Women's Voices
    A Score for Women's Voices
    Sophie Bissonnette 2002 1 h 26 min
    Between March and October 2000, millions of people around the world took to the streets to denounce poverty and violence against women. The historic World March of Women was a bold initiative of the Québec Federation of Women and represented a turning point in global solidarity.

    Director Sophie Bissonnette invited five filmmakers from around the world to cover the march. She also asked each one to film an innovative project. In Senegal a community battles female genital mutilation through education. In Australia a women's circus teaches survivors of sexual assault to become skilled performers. In India a group of low-caste women mediate domestic disputes in informal women's courts. Native women in Ecuador offer leadership training programs to create women leaders. In the United States, Linda Carney describes why she founded Survival Inc. for poor women in Boston: this wealthy city refused her and her son welfare benefits unless she quit her minimum-wage job.

    Set against the backdrop of a song, A Score for Women's Voices ends at the UN, where women deliver 5 million cards signed during the marches. Their goal? To change the world!

    Some subtitles.
  • Sisters in the Struggle
    Sisters in the Struggle
    Dionne Brand  &  Ginny Stikeman 1991 49 min
    This documentary features Black women active in politics as well as community, labour and feminist organizing. They share their insights and personal testimonies on the double legacy of racism and sexism, linking their personal struggles with the ongoing battle to end systemic discrimination and violence against women and people of colour.
  • Status Quo? The Unfinished Business of Feminism in Canada
    Status Quo? The Unfinished Business of Feminism in Canada
    Karen Cho 2012 1 h 27 min
    Feminism has shaped the society we live in. But just how far has it brought us, and how relevant is it today? This feature documentary zeroes in on key concerns such as violence against women, access to abortion, and universal childcare, asking how much progress we have truly made on these issues. Rich with archival material and startling contemporary stories, Status Quo? uncovers answers that are provocative and at times shocking.
  • Tokyo Girls
    Tokyo Girls
    Penelope Buitenhuis 2000 57 min
    This feature documentary is a candid journey into the world of 4 young Canadian women who work as well-paid hostesses in exclusive Japanese nightclubs. Lured by adventure and easy money, these modern-day geisha find themselves caught up in the mizu shobai—the complex "floating water world" of Tokyo clubs and bars. Drawn by fast money, some women become consumed by the lavish lifestyle and forget why they came; one hostess calls this "losing the plot." With a pulsating visual style, Tokyo Girls captures the raw energy of urban Japan and its fascination with the new.
  • To Kill a Tiger
    To Kill a Tiger
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    Nisha Pahuja 2022 2 h 5 min
    On the night of a family wedding in a village in India, Ranjit’s 13-year-old daughter is abducted and sexually assaulted by three men. Ranjit takes on the fight of his life when he demands the men be brought to justice. With tremendous access to all facets of this story, To Kill a Tiger charts the emotional journey of an ordinary man thrown into extraordinary circumstances—a father whose love for his daughter forces a social reckoning that will reverberate for years to come.
  • They Called Us "Les Filles du Roy"
    They Called Us "Les Filles du Roy"
    Anne Claire Poirier 1974 56 min
    Structured as a love letter, this feature film is an impressionistic history of the women of Québec down through the ages: the Indigenous woman, the fille du Roy, the nun, the settler's wife, the soldier's wife, and, finally, today's woman.
  • Women on the March
    Women on the March
    Douglas Tunstell 1958 58 min
    This feature film in two parts is an exploration of the women’s suffrage movement. Spearheaded by women like Emmeline Pankhurst, founder of the Women's Social and Political Union, the Suffragettes realized they would have to become radical and militant if the movement was going to be effective. There followed many demonstrations, and imprisonments until the women’s vote was finally granted, in 1918 (Britain) and 1919 (Canada, except Quebec.)