her marriage, MacNeil made one last attempt to save her relationship by moving back to Cape Breton with her family in 1975. It wasn't enough and she returned to Toronto on her own; for a year she tried to develop her career further while sorting out her feelings. She returned to Cape Breton in spring 1976, became severely depressed, and left again, this time taking her children on her move to Ottawa where, as a single mother, she took jobs cleaning houses and became a welfare recipient. By summer 1979 MacNeil and Langham had filed for divorce. Career 1970s MacNeil was first introduced to the women's movement in 1971 and it was pivotal to her music career. In 1972 she wrote the song "Born a Woman," which expressed her feelings about how women were being portrayed by men and in the media. Her mother Catherine died that year after being ill for some time, and at her funeral Rita sang a song she had written, "Who Will I Go to See," which she included on her first album. In 1975 MacNeil released her first album, Born A Woman, a tribute to those fighting for women's rights across the country. By 1979, her career had taken off. She performed for International Women's Day in Sydney, Cape Breton; realizing she could do her music in Cape Breton, she moved back to Nova Scotia. During the move she realized that her interests extended beyond the women's movement to include places she loved. She wrote songs like "Black Rock," "Rene," "Brown Grass," "My Island Too," and "Old Man," which was about her father. Research done by historians Steve Hewitt and Christabelle Sethna on documents from the now-defunct Royal Canadian Mounted Police Security Service have revealed accounts of the force having spied on feminists, including MacNeil, during the 1970s. "Working Man" "Working Man" was sparked by a visit to the Princess Colliery in Sydney Mines, prompted by the stories of the miners' daily hardships. In her autobiography she notes that the tour guide was suffering from throat cancer, and she had remembered her mother's struggles with it, and as he talked the melody for the song began in her head, complete with lyrics. The song, which peaked at number 11 in the UK charts, became a worldwide sensation and the unofficial anthem for coal miners everywhere. 1980s In 1981 MacNeil released her second album. Part