Indian Rights for Indian Women

Indian Rights for Indian Women (IRIW) was a grassroots activist collective in Canada, formed in 1967, that advocated against the gender discrimination in the Indian Act. The group's primary goal was to eradicate Section 12, paragraph 1(b) of the Indian Act, which removed the Indian status of Indigenous women who married non-Indigenous men, and prohibited them from passing status onto their children. Among others, the group was founded by Mary Two-Axe Earley, Kathleen Steinhauer and Nellie Carlson. IRIW used the voices of many Indigenous women who had lost their status across Canada to protest and stand up to the government. Due to their activism, Bill C-31, an amendment to the Indian Act, was implemented in 1985. Bill C-31 protected the status of Indian women and brought the Indian Act in line with the increasing gender equality of the time.