HEAR! HEaR! Voices of Canadian Women

Abstract

What difference can women’s voices make? This is the question posed by Shari Graydon, author, speaker, and founder of Informed Opinions, a national initiative aimed at amplifying women’s voices in Canadian public discourse. It is the question explored in HEAR! HEaR! Voices of Canadian Women as well. Contributors to this collection of papers were participants in a pair of conferences, “Discourse and Dynamics: Canadian Women as Public Intellectuals” and “Speaking Her Mind: Canadian Women and Public Presence,” that focussed on the multitudinous but often muffled voices of women in Canada and the intellectual import of their contributions. Speakers included writers, scientists, journalists, social workers, musicians, and academics—both established and emerging scholars. Together on panels and in paper presentations they confronted the under-representation of women’s voices in Canada from a wide variety of perspectives, backgrounds, professions, and pursuits.