Shirley Endicott:  Memories of a Mother of EWA

by Renee Pilgrim

For women, the 1970s were a flashpoint in history. It was a time when many strong women from diverse backgrounds were asking questions, exchanging ideas, and creating unprecedented change. Education Wife Assault played a significant role in that change, and Shirley Endicott played a significant role in Education Wife Assault.

Born into a United Church missionary family in China in 1930, politics and social justice were an integral part of Shirley’s upbringing. As a child, she was strongly influenced by the parable of the Good Samaritan. At 18, her short-lived affiliation with the communist party helped her see that she could make a difference. Then, during her university years, Shirley’s father spoke out against American use of germ warfare in China during the Korean War, prompting the suggestion in Canada that he be tried for treason. Shirley recalls being both concerned with and proud of his willingness to take a stand. From him, she says, she learned “to put your shoulder to the plough and not look back.”

Some time later, as a young mother volunteering at the YWCA, Shirley observed a “sparkling young woman” she calls “Jane,” who fell under the spell of what her supervisor referred to as “one of the problem boys.” Shirley’s instinct to speak with Jane was curtailed by organizational procedure, which required her to make a referral. By the time the red tape had been cut, it was too late: Jane had married the boy and was being ‘slapped around.’ Over the years, as Shirley saw the devastating effects of systemic failure repeated in the lives of many women, she vowed never again to let bureaucracy stymie her ability to help others.

Eventually, Shirley began teaching at the University of Toronto, where she was startled by the sociology of wife assault presented in Erin Pizzey’s book Scream Quietly or the Neighbors Will Hear. Not long after that, the book Beyond God the Father, by feminist theologian Mary Daly, “lit the fuse of [my] rage …” she says, and “was kind of a conversion experience.” Her anger was further fuelled upon hearing sociologist Gene Errington say at a Vancouver conference that sociology itself, as well as the Christian church in which Shirley was raised, perpetuated the problem.

It was her desire to be part of the solution, rather than the problem, that led to Shirley’s involvement in the original Battered Women’s Collective in 1978. All the members were bringing in ideas and challenging misconceptions, such as that domestic abuse was simply ‘an argument gone wrong.’ Together, they helped re-define wife battering as a crime; in fact, it was Shirley who coined the phrase ‘wife assault’ in one of EWA’s (then called Support Services for Assaulted Women) first newsletters.

Shirley recognized that women were bound by ‘invisible chains,’ another term she coined. These chains represented the limited ideas women had about themselves and their relationships, which were reinforced by the very organizations set up to help them. She encouraged women to de-construct these ideas and break the chains. This helped inform SSAW’s mission to re-educate women and advocate for a change in views held by women’s support services.

Shirley was instrumental in publishing the ground-breaking ideas of the day in jargon-free, accessible language. A simple brochure called Wife Assault: The Silent Crime, compiled with input from survivors of violence, caused quite a stir both among staff at York University, where it was printed, and at Shirley’s church, where it netted $400 in donations.

So began Shirley’s role in writing and publishing on the subject of wife assault. The brochure was followed by a fact sheet, and then an essay called “Wife Assault: An Overview of the Problem in Canada.” By September 1979, SSAW had distributed 6000 brochures, 200 fact sheets, and 100 essays. The key role that EWA would play, and continues to play, in public education about woman abuse was in place.  

By the early 1980s, after several years of stoking the fires of change with her words, and beginning to feel that the fire was burning her out, Shirley took a break from EWA. During this time, she wrote Facing the Tiger. An account of her internal struggles, even this effort to nurture herself continued Shirley’s tradition of lending her heart, voice, ideas, and energies to what she believed in. Facing the Tiger represents a lasting contribution to the literature of ending violence against women.  

EWA has undergone many changes since those early days. It is bigger, stronger, more influential, and its list of publications—many of them as ground-breaking as that first brochure—goes on for pages. But no matter how much EWA grows and evolves, it will always carry the stamp left by Shirley’s words, efforts, and heart. Although she is the first to say that EWA is the child of many mothers, we know that it would not be all it is today without her unique contribution. Shirley, on this anniversary, we thank you. 

Renee Pilgrim is a Newfoundland native and has lived in Toronto for about four years. Her roots secure in her a passion for people’s lives and stories, and a desire to share experiences. In her work as a writer and filmmaker she hopes to explore humanity, especially her own.

References

Endicott, S (1987) Facing the Tiger, Windfield BC: Woodlake Books.

Endicott, S (2002) “The Birth Pangs of Education Wife Assault: A Personal Memoir,” in this issue of EWA Newsletter online.

Endicott, S (2004) personal interview with Renee Pilgrim, August 16.

Daly, Mary (1973) Beyond God the Father, Boston MA: Beacon Press.

Pizzey, Erin (1977) Scream Quietly or the Neighbors Will Hear, Short Hills NJ: Enslow Publishers.