Women's national and gendered identity: The case of Canada

In this text, the author explores the difficulties of integrating diversity into the pan-Canadian women's movement. She outlines how hard it was for C anadian feminists to understand the "differend" (unassimilable difference) between themselves and nationalist Quebecoises. Gradually English-Canadian feminists learned that their claim to represent Canadian women was illegiti mate because feminist Quebecoises intended to represent themselves. She con cludes that it has become normal for the Quebec and English-Canadian moveme nts to disagree on issues, although this disagreement does not preclude ad hoc coalitions. Moreover, women's movements in Canada and Quebec are now je alous of their autonomy and are fragmented, precluding the emergence of a p olitical perspective based on "unity-in-difference."