How a P.E.I. woman became a catalyst for change in her province and beyond
It’s one of the few notfor-profit feminist organizations that has survived and thrived in the changing landscape while supporting gender and marginalized communities facing injustice.
Women’s Network P.E.I. celebrates its 40th anniversary in March and plans to bring back the Women’s Festival, an educational celebration of their commitment to equity in communities, homes and society.
But the road to get to this point has been anything but easy, notes Jillian Kilfoil, the executive director.
“Sometimes, we can support people who have had incredibly challenging experiences; other times, we can only listen and empathize with them,” Kilfoil says. “There have been times we’ve had 15 people working for us and other times one person working part-time.”
Challenges have included competing for funds in the past but, with determination, Kilfoil says the organization has overcome these obstacles and is seeing renewed government support.
OPEN-MINDEDNESS
Kilfoil, who grew up in the rural community of Woodstock, P.E.I., outside of O’leary during the 1980s, says the landscape helped shape her role in Women’s Network P.E.I., including her identity as a feminist and the need to be a catalyst for change.
“As much as I love the rural communities I grew up in, many people were the same in how they looked, acted and viewed the world,” she says. “And I disagreed with many of the messages I received at a young age. Fortunately, my parents were very open-minded.”
‘ROLE REVERSAL’
Kilfoil acknowledges that despite her parents’ location and being Irish Catholics, her mother cared for the finances and enthusiastically watched sports. At the same time, her father studied and read literature.
“In many ways, it was a role reversal,” states Kilfoil. “My parents were both educators, so they helped me develop a critical lens on the world, and I grew up believing that gender should not be a barrier for people, and this has deepened over the years.”
NOT ALWAYS EASY
She recalls hitting brick walls when she was a youth with her classmates because of her outspoken personality and actions while feeling isolation and indifference — feelings often shared among those she helps in her work today.
“I remember having arguments with other people in my class about access to abortion and that I was pro-choice,” she says. “Some wouldn’t even talk to me except say, ‘Shut up and get back in the kitchen.’ These were misogynistic, sexist remarks that you hopefully wouldn’t hear in a classroom today.”
Kilfoil acknowledges that, fortunately, they came around over the years.
She points out that it took 35 years for women in P.E.I. to have their reproductive rights recognized (January 2017).
Before abortion access, many Islanders faced extensive barriers and had to travel out of the province for private care at their own expense.
LEAVING THE ISLAND
At 17, Kilfoil decided to leave the Island without any intention of returning after feeling a lot of tension in her traditional community.
“I was always looking for a place where I could fit in. So, I attended St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish for undergraduate liberal arts education, where I studied political science, gender studies and disability justice,” she says. “The program enabled me to develop a theoretical framework based on feminist theory.”
While the community was small and similar to what she left behind, it was the first time she felt understood and socially connected with likeminded people in an educational setting.
NEW OPPORTUNITIES
Upon graduation in 2007, Kilfoil joined Katimavik, a registered charity that engages youth through volunteer work to help them become more active, caring and capable contributors and leaders.
The program paved the way for her to work with a national feminist organization in Montreal. She learned from her work there that there are different forms of feminism — and legitimate criticisms, too.
“You know, there’s certainly been a history of white women’s issues being more centred in the feminist movement than the problems that might be more important to Black, Indigenous or women of colour,” says Kilfoil. “So, I get all the time, ‘What do you mean you like that person, that’s a man, and you’re a feminist, so does not mean you hate men?’
And my response is not at all. Feminism is about power and inequality and trying to reduce that inequality and build equity among (stressing) everyone.”
‘WAVES’ OF FEMINISM
Feminism has been through multiple different waves, according to Kilfoil.
“We’re between the third and fourth wave right now, depending on who you talk to. But you know, for me, feminism is about intersectional feminism. So, it’s looking at all the social identities we construct in society and the different amounts of power attached to specific identities,” she explains. “There’s nothing wrong with being a man. There’s nothing wrong with being a white man. But there may be fewer barriers for you in our society as somebody who’s white male, just given the way that it’s constructed.
“Intersectional feminism looks at gender, but it also looks at race, ethnicity, ability, age, nationality and all these different factors. It tries to build equity among those groups because, historically, we know there are more barriers for certain people, depending on their identity.”
BACK HOME
After four years in Montreal, Kilfoil was encouraged to apply for a six-month interim role in her home province as the executive director at Women’s Network P.E.I.
“I thought, ‘This is perfect. I’ll move home for six months and get the experience to bring that back to Montreal.’ And so, at 30, I applied for that job.”
Kilfoil thanks Josie Baker for sending her directions to apply.
“If not for her, I would not have seen myself in the role or applied. However, after the interim period, I was interviewed, selected and asked to continue as an employee. So, I have been in the role for eight years.”
It’s been a roller-coaster of ups and downs, reflects Kilfoil. But the support from community organizations, colleagues who are making a significant impact and the visible and invisible heroes throughout the province are the ones that continue to inspire and motivate her.
“Nobody gets into this work for the recognition.” Jillian Kilfoil Executive director, Women’s Network P.E.I.
UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE
And with a smile, Kilfoil recalls a highlight of her career: in March 2018, she shared her perspectives on gender equality and women’s empowerment as part of a Canadian delegation in New York for the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.
“The focus that year was rural issues, and I had experience, so I applied to participate,” she says. “To my disbelief, I was selected to be part of the official Canadian delegation. I had a pass that got me onto the general assembly floor, where I was among passionate feminists worldwide.”
Kilfoil says it’s an experience she will never forget.
“Nobody gets into this work for the recognition. But it allows you to do things and open doors you never knew were possible,” she says. “I think back to that young feminist growing up in rural Woodstock, who didn’t have a lot of allies and was arguing all the time, and now. I’m working in this as a career and have found my community. The people you meet in this sector draw you in and keep you able to do this work.”
Kilfoil has come full circle on this journey.
Not only did she return to rural P.E.I. — this time on the east side outside of Charlottetown — she says a positive transformation is happening in the province.