Meet Fiona Green: Mother, academic and intersectional feminist

This is one of nine profiles on outstanding Manitoba women in honour of International Women's Day. The CBC Creator Network project was written by Carmen Ponto and illustrated by artist Joanna Turner. Some answers have been edited for space and clarity.

Fiona Green, 62, is a mother and academic with an intersectional feminist lens. She is an author and co-editor of six books, with two underway. Her work and teaching grapples with the topic of motherhood and feminism.

What does it mean to be a woman in 2023?

I don't think there is a single experience. My experience centres on the fact that I am a woman with great privilege. I am a white, formally educated middle-class settler, who is cisgender, heterosexual, and temporarily able-bodied.

I'm really aware of the privilege that comes with those identities. Part of being a woman is recognizing that I've not earned any of it.

It is my responsibility to try to make changes to the colonial structures around gender and the patriarchy.

It is my responsibility to try to make changes to the colonial structures around gender and the patriarchy.- Fiona Green

Your work centres on mothering specifically. What do you want young mothers to know?

I first want to say that while mothering is often done by cisgender birthing women, that's only a fraction of the childrearing work being done.

A lot of the day-to-day work of child care — feeding and putting to bed, cuddling, problem-solving and nursing wounds — is done by folks who might not identify as mothers or as women.

And so for primary caregivers, regardless of gender or other factors, I want to acknowledge that the labour of child-rearing is invisible. It's taken for granted.

For those folks, my advice would be, know your own worth. Find people who love and support you for who you are. Finding a community that loves and supports you for being your true self is essential. 

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