Carolyn Egan

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Carolyn Egan is a trade unionist, feminist and political activist.

An American by birth, Egan moved to Canada during the Vietnam War with her partner who was a draft resister, and settled in Toronto.

In the 1970s Egan was a member of the Toronto Women's Liberation Movement.

Egan is best known for her work in the pro-choice movement in the 1980s working with Judy Rebick in the Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics she was often seen at the side of Dr. Henry Morgentaler at press conferences and other events during the campaign to overturn the federal abortion law. Canada is now one of the few countries in the world without legal restrictions on abortion. She is also well known for her work in the women's and trade union movements.

Professionally, she became a counsellor at a Toronto birth control and sexual health centre. The centre's workers are affiliated with the United Steelworkers and Egan has long been president of USW Local 8300 which has over two thousand members. Her trade union work has led her to become a member of the executive of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council as well as president of the USW Toronto Area Council which represents 18,000 Steelworkers in the Toronto area.

She is president of the community board of the Immigrant Women's Health Centre in Toronto, past president of Women in Transition, a women's shelter, and past vice-president of the YWCA of Metropolitan Toronto.

Egan was one of the recipients of the 2000 Toronto YWCA Women of Distinction Award, and in 1998 she was given the C. Lalor Burdick Award by the US based National Abortion Federation for her work in support of women's reproductive freedom. In 1995 she won the Toronto Steelworker of the Year award. She has written numerous articles in women's anthologies and journals such as "Race, Class and Reproductive Freedom" in the Canadian Women's Studies Journal, and "Racism and Women's Health" in the Oxford University publication Social Inequality in Canada.

Politically, Egan joined the International Socialists in the early 1990s. She serves on the group's steering committee and writes a column for its newspaper. Carolyn works tirelessly at organizing and mobilizing the members of the Toronto Area Council whenever there is a call for solidarity, be it a strike or any other event that needs support.