JEAN HEWITT NARRATES THIS ARTICLE IN THIRD PERSON ABOUT HER INCREDIBLE JOURNEY IN ACTIVISM AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN CANADA.
Written By Jean Hewitt
When Jean Hewitt first came to Canada as a young high school teacher, she was already something of an activist. She had joined the United Nations youth group at 13, had supported the campaign to restore the passport of US singer, Paul Robeson, at 14, and at 16, had walked on the Aldermaston March to protest against the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
It was not surprising that when she arrived in Canada in 1961 and found the Toronto chapter of The Voice of Women marching against nuclear weapons, she joined the protest carrying her sign, “Active Today or Radioactive Tomorrow?” The Women’s Liberation movement grew across the country out of their anger and sense of injustice.
Jean moved to London in 1963. When she was hired as a teacher by the London Board in the following year, she became involved with the Federation of Women Teachers of Ontario (FWTAO). The Federation was at the time the largest and wealthiest women’s organization in North America. As discontentment grew amongst women about their unequal status in Canadian society, FWTAO joined the Canadian Federation of University Women led by Laura Sabia, to pressure the Government to set up a commission to look at the status of women in Canada. Eventually, with considerable support from Liberal Cabinet Minister, Judy LaMarsh, the Government under Prime Minister, Lester Pearson, agreed to a Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada.
As the Royal Commission moved to hearings across the country, Jean found herself in the thick of the Federation local and provincial work to create briefs to present at Commission hearings. When the final report was tabled in Parliament in December 1970, she, like many women, was shocked at the depth and breadth of discrimination across the country. The Commission Report in documenting hundreds of cases of discrimination against women across Canada, became the blueprint for women like Jean as they fought to its 167 recommendations implemented. As the local FWTAO President in 1970, Jean was able to take a leadership role in the fight against the discrimination women teachers faced across the Province.
The years that followed, including International Women’s Year in 1975 when Jean led the IWY Committee for the region, became known as the Second Wave of Women’s Liberation. During this period, London elected its first woman, Jane Bigelow (70 males preceded her), and opened the first Children’s Museum in Canada. Gains were made in pay-equity, access to Western’s professional schools, support for abused women, day-care, promotional policies, and much more. Jean herself took action during this time by defying the rule that pregnant women teachers must stop work when their pregnancy “shows”.She continued to teach until the birth of her son, James, becoming the first woman teacher in Southern Ontario to do so. Also, as the FWTAO Status of Women Convener for the region, Jean was able to use her budget to underwrite the costs of many initiatives. Much of the planning and consciousness-raising that was behind these gains went on after work in the Women’s Centre that had opened on Queen’s Avenue in London.
Many years after the heady period of the Second Wave, a phone call to Jean from Jane Bigelow led to a new challenge. In late 1999, the former Mayor reminded Jean that the period in which they had both been so active was now history. She wondered whether it would be wise to start collecting and preserving the records of the period for future generations. From this conversation, The London Women’s History Project was launched. Working with a newly formed committee with Jane as Chair and Jean as Vice-Chair, the work began in 2000.
What the Jean thought would be a two- or three-year commitment was not completed for 12 years. However, by this time, through public meetings and advertising, hundreds of records were collected – minutes of meetings, posters, bumper stickers, and personal accounts.
A particularly valuable box was found in a basement. It contained a set of 21 tapes from the mid-seventies of “Women’s Libbers”, including Jean, talking about their beliefs and hopes. With the help and support of the University archivists, these materials were catalogued and stored in Western’s Archives.
The London Women’s History Project committee supported Jean’s idea that she should write a book for schools and local libraries to tell the stories of some of the local women who had fought for change during this historic period. With a London Heritage grant, Jean was able to pay for a young oral historian, Clare Tattersall, to record more information from the women, as well as their permission to tell their stories. The book, Voices of Change was distributed to libraries throughout the community and schools in 2013.
Although Jane wrote briefly about the First Wave of Women’s Emancipation (1900-1930), at the beginning of Voices of Change, the book focussed on her generation of women. Although she had learned a lot in school about the British Suffragettes, Jean knew that the remarkable women in Canada’s
earlier history were not included in Ontario’s curriculum. Furthermore, as she spoke to service club and church groups, she was astonished that they knew nothing of Dr. Emily Stowe or Emily Murphy, or the other remarkable women in Canada’s History. The began the next stage of Jean’s work.
The first script Jean wrote, The Famous Five, was for the annual Person’s Day well-attended dinner is a fundraiser for Optimism Place, the Stratford Women’s Shelter. The performance piece involved five students from the Stratford Central’s Drama Department. The performance was a success and so, at the final dinner of The London Women’s History Project’s Archival Project and the book launch in 2023, Jean had a group of retired London women perform the Famous Five piece. This group became The Famous Five Troupe and continues to perform Jean’s the monologues and short scenes at conferences, and for school groups, clubs and churches.
The most recent undertaking of LWHP, of which Jean is the Chair, involves producing educational film material on some of Canada’s courageous women. Led by filmmaker, Nancy Johnson, who appears in Voices of change, the final products will reach a much larger audience of young women. With the support of The Fanshawe Pioneer Village, grants from The Good Foundation and Heritage London, as well as many personal donations, this $30,000 project will be completed by 2025.
Although now 84, Jean continues her work, speaking to groups, writing and narrating for the Troupe, and supporting women’s issues. She hopes to live to see the Third Wave take off in Canada. “We accomplished a lot,” she says, “but there is more work to be done.”
