A collection of essays presented at a conference to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the release of the Report of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women, Women and the Canadian State both celebrates and critically assesses the Report. Women bureaucrats, activists, and academics consider the impact, successes, and failures of the Report from a variety of viewpoints and reflect on the experience of Canadian women since its publication in 1970.

Awareness of the history of the interaction between women and the Canadian state is central to understanding and evaluating action in the present and in the future. Women and the Canadian State makes an important contribution to the ongoing debate.

Contributors include Dyane Adam, Naomi Alboim, Pat Armstrong, Monique Bégin, Florence Bird, Claire Bonenfant, Lorenne M.G. Clark, Maria de Koninck, Martha Flaherty, Catherine Frazee, Nitya Iyer, Jane Jenson, Diane Lamoureux, Marie Lavigne, Wendy Moss, Mary Jane Mossman, Marie Murphy, Teressa Anne Nahanee, Maureen O'Neil, Freda L. Paltiel, Carol Smart, Joanne St Lewis, Nancy Sullivan, Sharon Sutherland, Mary Ellen Turpel (Aki-Kwe), and Jane Ursel.