On March 8, 2001, also International Women’s Day, MAW had its Annual General Meeting. It was held in a meeting room at The Dunvegan Pub in Ottawa. Official MAW business was taken care of in one evening over drinks and munchies, and we had the opportunity to socialize for a bit afterwards.

This year’s AGM was done on a small scale this year, compared to previous AGMs. The decision to hold an AGM was made at our most recent Steering meeting in February, in order to keep MAW moving forward. Keeping things low key this year enabled us to achieve this at a time when MAW members are extremely busy with many different commitments. We simply did not have the woman power this year to arrange something similar to previous AGMs, as much as we would have liked to. There were ten MAW members in attendance (Willa Egrmajer, Lisa Menard, Christina Comeau, Sonya Nigam, Mary Ann Pocock, Victoria McMullen, Laura Sutin, Lisa Taylor, Michèle Lapierre (who made it all the way from Montreal for the occasion), and Leslie Ashton.

Year 2000 was a good one for MAW. Financially-speaking MAW is still in good standing and membership is slowly rising. MAW got a new domain name (www.mothersarewomen.com) and, for those of you living outside Ottawa, toll-free number (1-866-667-6297). In 2000, we created a new pamphlet and fridge magnet and three workshops were held in the Ottawa area. A promotions committee has been formed and they are working hard to increase MAW’s outreach work.

The chapter kit created by the MAWs in Whitby is nearing completion. The Whitby group have been meeting on a monthly basis and have agreed to liase with other MAW chapters and share their expertise. MAW’s Virtual Kitchen Table (VKT) has more than 50 members.

On the side of research and policy, MAW organized and prepared questions for the main parties in the federal election in November. As well, members have taken part in a variety of conferences, forums, and panel discussions over the past year. If anyone is interested in the Annual General Report, a written copy will be available upon request in June.

Other news to pass along, the National Action Committee on the Status of Women will be postponing its AGM from June to September. MAW is still planning to send a delegation, if you’re interested in attending please let us know. More details will follow in the summer issue of Homebase.

We have members interested in starting chapters in Vancouver and Nelson, B.C., and also in Edmonton. If you’re in one of those areas and are interested in getting together with other MAWs, please contact us.

Montreal-West Island MAW Chapter Update
by Catharine Crawford

Discussions are always interesting and stimulating at the Montreal chapter. What an adventurous and diverse group of women gather monthly to tackle a semi-serious topic with copious distraction provided by darling children in tow (multi-tasking, as we know, is a well-honed quality of the home-based mother). In January, February and March, we discussed Activism as a concept and practice, Celebrating Gender Complementarity within Feminism (is it possible?), and Women and Spirituality. In February, we had a social night and took the opportunity to view the spooky, consciousness-raising The Stepford Wives. It raised up some wonderful discussion about loss of self in marriage and family, and if it is fair to see women as co-contributers to these losses. The topic of house-work, of course, came up due to the “compulsion to clean” problem among the Stepford women, and we reflected on how being homebased puts us very much “in charge” and “in the know” around the house. Being referred to affectionately as the “Chief CEO” of the family can have both positive and negative implications for the mother at home.

On March 8, MAW was invited to attend the unveiling of the Mothering Matters Draft Charter of Rights for Mothers, in Pierrefonds, Quebec. Mothering Matters, a very successful network of support groups for mothers-at-home in the Montreal area, is to be commended for their initiative in writing this exceptional piece, containing 11 articles on mother’s rights. The community response here has been excellent and Mothering Matters looks forward to Phase II, in which other women’s groups will be helping to fine-tune the Draft. The Charter can be viewed at the Mothering Matters website or by contacting Mothering Matters’ founder, Merryl Hammond, at 514-457-4347.

In addition to working on the Charter, Mothering Matters want to publish a book, tentatively called, Motherspeak: reflections on Mothers, rights and experiences. Each section of the book will deal with one of the articles in the Charter. It will contain personal reflections and insights about the growing pains, frustrations, sorrows, regrets, and joys of mothers. It could be about pregnancy, childbirth, adoption, step-mothering, coping with a special needs child, with teenagers, with one income, or with your emotional reactions (positive and negative) to motherhood or life in general now that you are a mother. Whatever is on your mind.

This will be a book about mothers finding our voice, and telling others what we have lived through (or are living through). It will be about respect, and dignity, and empathy. Down to earth. In your face. Heart-to-heart. Write as if you were sharing with your dearest friend or closest sister. If you prefer to speak, Meryl Hammond is willing to do phone interviews. The deadline is the end of June for first draft submissions. Please contact Merryl if you have any queries about this project.

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