Gabrielle Bouchard
{{Short description|Canadian feminist}}
Gabrielle Bouchard (born 1968) is a Canadian feminist. From 2017 to 2020, she served as president of the Fédération des femmes du Québec, the first transgender woman to hold the position.
Career
She previously worked for the Concordia University Centre for Gender Advocacy.{{Cite news|last=Jardin|first=Laurène|date=December 10, 2017|title=Meet Gabrielle Bouchard, the first trans president of the Quebec Women's Federation|work=www.cbc.ca|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-federation-women-gabrielle-bouchard-1.4441395|access-date=June 10, 2021}}{{Cite web|url=https://thelinknewspaper.ca/blogs/entry/an-interview-withgabrielle-bouchard-of-the-2110-centre|title=An Interview With Gabrielle Bouchard of the 2110 Centre | That Transsexual Guy|website=thelinknewspaper.ca}}{{Cite news|last=D'Amours|first=Matt|date=October 23, 2016|title=Are Concordia and McGill doing enough to deal with sexual assault allegations?|work=www.cbc.ca|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/mcgill-concordia-sexual-assault-1.3817797|access-date=June 10, 2021}} She has been described as an intersectional feminist.{{Cite news|url=https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/2019-06-12/la-femme-qui-derange|title=La femme qui dérange|date=Jun 12, 2019|website=La Presse|last1=Hachey |first1=Isabelle }} In 2013, she led the centre in filing a court challenge against the Québec law on legal gender recognition, Centre for Gender Advocacy et al. v. AG.{{Cite web|url=http://theconcordian.com/2013/12/centre-for-gender-advocacy-to-sue-quebec/|title=Centre for Gender Advocacy to sue Quebec|date=Dec 3, 2013}} In 2016, she was part of a group that won the Concordia Council on Student Life Big Hairy Ideas Competition, winning a grant to lead a comprehensive audit on the inclusion of genders, sexualities and learning styles in Concordia policies and syllabi.{{Cite web|url=https://www.concordia.ca/content/shared/en/news/main/stories/2016/05/18/big-hairy-ideas-winners.html|title=Three 'Big Hairy Ideas'|website=www.concordia.ca}}
In November 2017, she was elected president of the Fédération des femmes du Québec, which represents 300 member organisations across Québec. She was the first transgender woman to be elected to the position in the history of the FFQ.{{Cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/fr/article/la-premiere-femme-trans-a-la-tete-de-la-ffq-veut-pousser-le-feminisme-au-dela-de-la-tolerance/|title=La première femme trans à la tête de la FFQ veut pousser le féminisme au-delà de la tolérance|website=Vice.com|date=11 December 2017 }}{{Cite web|url=https://fr.chatelaine.com/opinions/gabrielle-bouchard-la-peur-de-linconnue/|title=Gabrielle Bouchard: la peur de l'inconnuE|first=Par Marilyse Hamelin 12|last=décembre 2017|date=Dec 12, 2017}}{{cite web |last1=Québec |first1=Fédération des femmes du |title=Départ de la présidente et gouvernance |url=https://www.ffq.qc.ca/fr/nouvelles/depart-de-la-presidente-et-gouvernance |website=Fédération des femmes du Québec |access-date=7 July 2021 |language=fr-CA |archive-date=9 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709184819/https://www.ffq.qc.ca/fr/nouvelles/depart-de-la-presidente-et-gouvernance |url-status=dead }}
In May 2018, after the government of Québec announced an increase in the minimum wage to 12$ an hour, she called for a further increase to 15$, stating that "we have mostly women, of all ages, in a variety of jobs, who are at minimum wage and will stay at minimum wage for a very long time."{{Cite news|last=Enos|first=Elysha|date=May 1, 2018|title=Quebec's new $12 minimum wage not liveable wage for women trying to escape poverty|work=www.cbc.ca|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/minimum-wage-quebec-12-poverty-living-wage-1.4642515|access-date=June 10, 2021}}
While president of the FFQ, she came under controversy several times for her tendency to make provocative posts on social media, including a tweet in June 2019 saying "maybe it's time we start talking about mandatory vasectomies at the age of 18" and a November 2019 tweet that said wearing the hijab was "badass."{{Cite web|url=https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1495333/gabrielle-bouchard-excuses-twitter|title=La présidente de la Fédération des femmes du Québec admet avoir été " maladroite "|first=Zone Société-|last=ICI.Radio-Canada.ca|website=Radio-Canada.ca|date=28 January 2020 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.journaldequebec.com/vasectomie-obligatoire-a-18-ans|title=Vasectomie obligatoire à 18 ans???|first=Steve E.|last=Fortin|website=Le Journal de Québec|date=10 June 2019 }} In January 2020, she came under additional criticism after posting a tweet that read "Heterosexual relationships are really violent. And the large majority are based on religion. Maybe it's time to have a conversation about their abolition." She later apologised for the tweet, stating that she had been attempting to start a conversation about femicide in Québec.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2020/01/28/jai-manque-de-jugement-admet-gabrielle-bouchard|title="J'ai manqué de jugement", admet Gabrielle Bouchard|website=TVA Nouvelles|date=28 January 2020 }}{{Cite web|url=https://quebec.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/gabrielle-bouchard-ffq-tweet-provocateur_qc_5e306771c5b60a8aa2802442|title=Une provocation de la présidente de la FFQ se retourne contre elle|date=Jan 28, 2020|website=HuffPost Québec}}
In June 2020, she announced she was stepping down from the presidency of the FFQ.{{Cite web|url=https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1714625/gabrielle-bouchard-demission-ffq|title=Gabrielle Bouchard quitte la présidence de la Fédération des femmes du Québec|first=Zone Société-|last=ICI.Radio-Canada.ca|website=Radio-Canada.ca|date=23 June 2020 }}
Personal life
References
{{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouchard, Gabrielle}}
Category:Concordia University people