The Manitoba Action Committee on the Status of Women (MACSW) was formed by a group of women who had participated in the preparation of a comprehensive brief to the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in 1967. The Manitoba Volunteer Committee, formed in 1967, then went on to hold its first public meeting in 1970, adopt its constitution in 1973, and build up a membership of over 400 women by 1981. Until its demise in 2000, MACSW was the only feminist lobby group in Manitoba. Nothing has since taken its place.
MACSW was run by the membership and a Provincial Coordinating Committee (composed of members and staff), which met at least three times annually in various parts of the province. This made the workings of the Provincial organization more accessible for women throughout the province. Feminist process was used in all meetings and decisions were made by consensus. During the 1980s and 1990s, there were four MACSW branches: one each in Brandon, Winnipeg, Dauphin (Parkland Status of Women) and Thompson (Thompson Action Committee on the Status of Women). There were individual members in all areas of Manitoba, and for a few years in the 1990s, a Rural Coordinator networked with individual members outside of the four branch locations and helped coordinate provincial activities.
From the beginning, funding was short-term. Operations were run on a shoe-string and with the help of dedicated volunteers. The funding allowed for wages was poverty-level, forcing the organization to operate only part-time with part-time staff in order to provide staff with a reasonable salary.
As governments changed their funding objectives and methods, it became harder and harder for MACSW to maintain its presence as the only feminist lobby within Manitoba. When Status of Women Canada stopped funding core operations and only allowed for “project funding,” the job became impossible to do. Projects meant research and the publication of a document each year, and the work was to be coordinated among the various branches. Work on the project was necessarily additional to the daily tasks of the coordinators of the various offices. It became impossible to operate four branches, a provincial coordinating function and prepare a publication in conjunction with an annual project--all with a total budget of approximately $120,000.00 per year. Although an astonishing amount of work was accomplished by dedicated women under these circumstances, MACSW was unable to continue. MACSW closed its doors in Winnipeg in 1998, Brandon in 1999, and then throughout the province.
The primary activities of MACSW were political action (working for legislative change), public education about women’s issues, and providing resources, referrals and advocacy services to women in need of such support. Where possible, joint actions were planned with other groups in the community sharing similar concerns. The Coordinating Committee met quarterly, including representatives of three standing committees (finance, communications and membership) and up to ten members-at-large. Other committees were set up as members showed an interest in particular issues. At various times, there were committees on media monitoring, political action, labour, day care, education and so on. Branches had their own “mini-committees,” which worked with the Provincial committees on issues in common. Consultation between the branches, between Quarterly Meetings, was done by phone, mail or e-mail.
MACSW strove to advise women on issues of interest through films, guest speakers, speaking engagements, information tables, and working with other groups to present conferences and seminars, public meetings and so on. They also lobbied all levels of government and researched and wrote position papers and briefs for commissions and hearings.
MACSW members also liaised and networked by sharing their resources and working with other women’s groups, such as (in the Brandon area) Women for Equality, The Westman Coalition for Equality Rights, and The Western Manitoba Women’s Resource Centre. They organized and responded to government and public requests for input through research, conferences and the actions of their sub-committees. The media sought out MACSW for comment upon issues of the day.
Throughout the approximate 30 years of its existence, MACSW was respected as an informed and highly effective organization working on behalf of women. No other feminist organization has taken the place of MACSW. However, lobbying and education on behalf of women continues on an ad hoc basis through former MACSW members who have been empowered through their experiences in MACSW to speak up for change and improvement in the status of women in Manitoba, Canada and the world.
Custodial History
The Manitoba Action Committee on the Status of Women disbanded during the mid 1990s, due to lack of funding. Acting on behalf of the organization, Paula Mallea donated the records to the McKee Archives in 2003.
Scope and Content
Fonds contains minutes of governing bodies (local and provincial) from 1979-1992, correspondence files of the Brandon MACSW, scrapbooks of the Brandon Action Committee (1972-1992), Action Newsletters (1979-1999), records of AGM (1982-1990), and extensive miscellaneous files dealing with activities, workshops and research concerns of the Brandon local of the Manitoba Action Committee of the Status of Women. These include files dealing with violence against women, rural women, northern women, child abuse, social policy, sexual orientation, feminism, poverty, prostitution, pay equity, and racism, among others.
Fortier Co-operative Elevator Association Limited Organizational papers: 1936 - 1961 Agreement between Fortier CEA and MPE, 15 October 1936 Allocation of surplus, 1 November 1946 By-law no. 21, 31 October 1947 Meeting re: By-law no. 21, 31 October 1947 Allocation of surplus, 15 January 1948 By-law no. 22, 15 August 1949 Surplus payment, 10 December 1949 Agreement between Fortier CEA and MPE, 1 August 1951 Directors' Resolution, 18 October 1961 Minutes of Executive Board meetings, volume 1, 17 January 1947 - volume 2, 12 November 1965 Financial records and statistics Analysis of Operating Results, 1951 - 1953 (1 report) Statement of surplus, 1938 - 1953 (14 reports) Final statements, 1936 - 1952 (13 reports) Capital loan statement, 31 July 1951 Analysis of Operating Results, 1951 - 1952 Twine purchases, 1941 - 1942 Outstanding accounts, 1943 - 1959 (7 reports) Advance equalization payment--adjustments on settlement, 30 September 1943 Statement of Deliveries and Surplus, 1949 - 1959 Deliveries, 1958 - 1962 Deliveries and Dividends, July 1964 Oats and Barley equalization payment, January 1944 Final Oats equalization payment, 25 June 1945 Barley advance equalization payment, 1 November 1945 Adjustment payment on Barley, 21 July 1947 Terminal Mortgage and Interest at 5 PC, 19 December 1947 Final equalization payment, 25 May 1948 Oats and Barley equalization payment, 29 June 1948 Payment for the years 1943 - 1944, 18 December 1948 Final equalization payment, 4 March 1949 Final Oats ad Barley equalization payment, 29 April 1949 Payment for the years 1944 - 1945 and 1945 - 1946, 15 December 1949 Capital assisstance and Special reserve payment, 31 July 1952 Payment for the year 1951 - 1952, December 1954 Buckwheat payment, December 1954 Buckwheat payment 1955 - 1956, December 1955 Payment for the year 1959 - 1960, December 1960 Flax payment, 31 July 1964 Elevator surplus payment, December 1938 Surplus repayment; 1936 - 1937, December 1939 Surplus repayment; 1937 - 1938, December 1942 Surplus repayment; 1937 - 1938, 1938 - 1939, December 1943 Advance equalization payment adjustment of settlements, 1943 1942 - 1943 Terminal Mortgage payment, December 1944 2nd Terminal Mortgage loan, 17 December 1945 3rd Terminal Mortgage payment, 16 December 1946 Surplus payment 1946 - 1947 and 1947 - 1948, 15 December 1950 Surplus payment and working capital retained, 31 July 1947 Surplus payments for part 1947 - 1948 and 1948 - 1951, 15 December 1952 Surplus payment for 1953 - 1958, March, 1959 1959 - 1960 Surplus payment, March 1963 Correspondence, 1943 - 1959 Membership list, 1946 - 1961 Miscellaneous Suggested floor plan for remodeling Office, May 1957 (1) Map of CNR-CP Rail Network, 1 January 1975 Corporate Name: Rural Municipality of Portage La Prairie
