Willful Women Creating the World: Life Stories of Feminist and Queer Activists

This thesis documents themes from the lives of three women who have been high-profile activists in the women's and LGBTQ communities of Toronto for more than 20 years. There has been no previous major work that documents and examines their lived experiences, their social/historical contexts, and their personal resistance and political strategies. This research explores how these women have responded to multiple oppressions such as homophobia, heterosexism, sexism, racism and poverty, and used collective political action to pursue new visions, structures, and spaces for women and LGBTQ people in the public world.The research draws on multiple methodological and theoretical influences. It is guided by several strands of feminist scholarship broadly informed by the "post" traditions, including intersectionality, the attribution of willfulness, feminist world-building and queer world-making. Particular attention is given to the diverse ethno-cultural, historical and socio-economic contexts of these women's lives, and to the shaping of individual experience through Canada's history as a white-settler nation.The author employs narrative and autoethnographic writing strategies to present life histories, using the metaphor of a tree to tell each life story. Data was gathered through multiple in-depth interviews focused on significant life events, photographs/artifacts and memories. The findings are presented using an arts-informed approach that includes drawings and photographs, and aims to educate and inspire audiences both within and beyond the academy.Ph.D