Feminism And The Farm: Lola Lange Left Her Mark On Royal Commission

“Salute Lola Lange, a true hero of the Women’s Movement in Canada.  As a member of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women 1967-70, she helped touched the lives of every women in Canada in a positive, sustainable way.” – Jane

When the phone rang at Lola Lange’s farmhouse in southern Alberta one winter day in 1967, it hardly seemed likely that the person on the other end would be the prime minister of the day.

Yet when she put down the receiver, she turned to her family and said, “Lester Pearson just phoned me on the party line!”

The prime minister wanted to know if Mrs. Lange would serve on his newly struck Royal Commission on the Status of Women. For months, Mr. Pearson had faced the mounting wrath of the country’s feminist groups, who wanted the government to comprehensively address critical issues facing women: poverty, reproductive rights, daycare, equal pay for equal work. When campaigner Laura Sabia threatened to hold a million-woman march on Parliament Hill, the government bowed to demand, and a commission was called. Read more