TORONTO — Although Canadian women are years ahead of their American counterparts when it comes to access to maternity leave and child care, Canadian Jewish feminists lag behind those in the United States, says Sarah Fulford, the new editor of Toronto Life magazine.

While Canadian women get year-long maternity leave and government-subsidized day care, Americans face the dilemma of having to leave their children after six weeks to return to work, or to quit working and face financial hardship, she said.

Fulford will be speaking on the challenges and changes in the women’s movement, along with the Letty Cottin Pogrebin, author, journalist, social activist and founding editor of Ms Magazine, and Rabbi Elyse Goldstein, left, director of Kolel: The Adult Centre for Liberal Jewish Learning, at a fundraising luncheon for Kolel on May 12 at noon at the recently renovated Darchei Noam Synagogue, 864 Sheppard Ave. W.

Fulford said in a conference call that “at a time when doctors are encouraging new mothers to nurse their babies for at least six months, I am perplexed that American women have not stormed the streets.”

Rabbi Goldstein said, however, that with regard to religious life, she is a “rabbi among rabbis after 25 years in Toronto, but there is still a lot of tokenism. Gender definitely plays a role. I often get calls from the media [to discuss various topics] when they realize that they have spoken to a number of religious leaders, but none were women.”

Canadian synagogues tend to be established and set in their ways, she said, and not many have considered changing their liturgy to address feminist issues. “In the United States, feminist liturgy is a done deal.”

Rabbi Goldstein said she represents a woman who broke through the glass ceiling, “and the challenge now is for [younger women] to change the face [of Jewish institutions].”

Pogrebin said the difficulty lies in the fact that people can’t aspire to be what they have not seen. “Somebody has to break through the model.”

She said Jewish women need to take pride in their accomplishments. Since the first and only International Jewish Feminist Conference, held in Jerusalem in 1988, “it became clear that women needed to become included. When we went to the Wall to pray, every woman could feel comfortable.”

Anyone who has attended a Passover seder, she said, has heard the story of liberation. “We can also liberate the oppressed.”

Rabbi Goldstein noted that women who participated in Sukkah by the Water, a feminist celebration of Sukkot that ran annually in Toronto in the early 1990s, represented all denominations. “Everyone came together. We taught cross-denominational dialogue, because we didn’t have much to lose.”

She said anyone who attends the luncheon will have a chance to learn “so much from [these women’s] inspirational journeys. They are [an] example of the kind of thought-provoking and stimulating experiences Kolel offers.”

Pogrebin said Kolel is a marvelous example of how “sparks can fly” in a pluralistic environment.

Funds from the luncheon will go towards Kolel programs. For tickets, call Esther Schlesinger at Kolel, 416-636-1880, ext. 255.