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Grassroots Women (GW) was an anti-imperialist, feminist organisation in East Vancouver, Canada, first initiated by the Philippine Women Centre, which was at the forefront of community organising in Vancouver in the early 1990s. The group included single mothers, women on welfare, migrant and Indigenous women, childcare workers (including migrant domestic workers), health and service sector workers, lesbians/queer women and students. Participants in GW events collectively analysed their own lives and experiences, reflected on their childhoods and family histories, and examined the conditions in which they related to their own and other children.

Recognising that working-class women would not be able to participate unless their children were also welcomed and included, GW encouraged women to bring their children to organisational activities. As a result, children were almost always present. They …