Fonds PR0212 - Canadian Federation of University Women, Edmonton fonds

The Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) Edmonton was founded in 1909 as a charitable organization of University of Alberta women graduates acting to promote the role of university women in the community. The activities of the Edmonton organization have since taken place in the following areas: education, public affairs, status of women and human rights, and better understanding among women university graduates. The Canadian Federation of University Women, which included the Edmonton Association, was later formed in 1919 when clubs of university women gathered in Winnipeg to collaborate.

The Edmonton members are committed to the pursuit of knowledge, human rights, promotion and funding of public education, abolition of library fees and increased library funding, community involvement, participation in public affairs, preservation of historic sites, environmental awareness, improvement of public health care, co-operation between women, and improvement of the status of women, irrespective of their race, religion or political opinions. They take particular interest in all levels of schooling, citizenship, justice, welfare, social security, child support, childcare, women's poverty, equal rights for women, libraries and archives. Some highlights of the CFUW, Edmonton are as follows:

In 1914, the Edmonton members formed a Standing Committee on the Franchise of Women and local women were asked to become involved; a series of talks were then presented, leading up to women's suffrage in Alberta. In the 1930s, the members began broadening their interests, and some new interests included birth control, disarmament and penal reform. In the 1940s, the members became involved in the war effort, once again resuming their other interests when the war came to an end. In the 1960s, the Edmonton CFUW helped advocate for the establishment of the Provincial Archives of Alberta. In 1998, the members joined the protest to keep the Provincial Archives of Alberta in Edmonton following a proposal by the Government of Alberta to move the institution to Stony Plain as a solution to a lac. The association also annually award scholarships and bursaries to female students at the University of Alberta.

The CFUW Edmonton is now one of 122 clubs throughout Canada comprising the Canadian Federation of University Women. This national organization operates as a voluntary, non-profit, self-funded bilingual society of 10,000 women university graduates, and is an affiliate of the International Federation of University Women, maintaining 140,000 members in 78 countries. The local, provincial, national and international levels of the organization are represented in the Canadian Federation of University Women, Edmonton fonds.