Royal Commission on the Status of Women

The Commission wrote reports to the government about issues regarding pay, child care, birth control and education.

[1][2][3][better source needed] In the mid-1960s, activist Laura Sabia led a coalition of 32 Canadian women's groups in carrying out a national campaign demanding action against gender inequality in society.

[2] The coalition formed the national Committee for the Equality of Women (CEW) in 1966, with Sabia as chair, and asked the government to establish a formal royal commission.

[2] During the Second World War, she had worked as chief aeronautical engineer for Canadian Car & Foundry and oversaw the mass production of Hawker Hurricane fighter planes, which led media to give her the nickname “Queen of the Hurricanes.”[7][8] MacGill had grown up with a keen interest in women's rights: her mother had broken ground as one of the first female judges in Canada, while her maternal grandmother had been a suffragist.

As a liberal feminist, MacGill believed that women should also have full control over their bodies, and should have the right to abort, much like Bird.

[7] Jacques Henripin was a professor of demography at Université de Montréal,[2] noted for his key contributions to the field of study in Canada.

[2] (appointed following Gordon's resignation) Azilda Lapierre Marchand prepared a report on behalf of the Women's Association for Education and Social Action (French: L'Association féminine d'éducation et d'action sociale, AFÉAS) evaluating the invisibility of women's work, and presented the findings to the Commission.