Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Exploitation of women in mass media wikipedia , lookup
Second-wave feminism wikipedia , lookup
Women in law wikipedia , lookup
Women in ancient Egypt wikipedia , lookup
Raunch aesthetics wikipedia , lookup
Feminist movement wikipedia , lookup
New feminism wikipedia , lookup
Women in Sweden wikipedia , lookup
Anarcha-feminism wikipedia , lookup
First-wave feminism wikipedia , lookup
Gender roles in Islam wikipedia , lookup
Between the Wars: Women in Canada The Suffrage Movement Prior to 1916, apart from certain municipalities, which allowed women to vote, suffrage was reserved for male British subjects of 21 years of age. The women’s fight for the vote began in the 19th century with suffrage movements popping up around the world: in Britain, in the United States and in Canada. Manitoba led the way for women’s suffrage. In 1914 Nellie McClung (right) and Manitoba’s Political Equality League held a mock parliament which debated if women should be allowed to vote. Their request was turned down by “Premier” McClung. With the fall of the Tory government in Manitoba, women's suffrage was given a chance. Manitoba was the first to give women the right to vote and to stand in elections in 1916. The biggest obstacle for female suffrage, especially in the East, was strong conservatism and in Quebec, Catholicism. The vote was soon awarded, that same year, to women in Alberta and Saskatchewan. In 1917, women who had a relative serving in the war could vote in the federal election. Finally, in 1918, the federal vote was extended to all women of legal age (21 at the time) across the country. Agnes Macphail (left) became the first woman elected to Parliament in 1921, and most provinces granted women full suffrage within the next four years. Quebec was the notable exception, as nearly 50,000 women signed a petition against the vote in the antisuffrage movement, but in 1940, Quebec awarded the two political rights to women. Women were also very influential in the Temperance movement that resulted in laws prohibiting the sale and consumption of alcohol. Laws were passed in most provinces by 1916, though they were mostly repealed by 1924 because of the rampant bootlegging and difficulty in upholding the laws. The “Persons” Case, 1927-1929 The “Persons” Case allowed women to be appointed to the Senate of Canada. For years, many individuals and associations had been calling for the appointment of women to the Senate. The Senate was very important to the women because, until the 1970s, it approved divorces, among other things. They believed that if women were to sit in the Senate, decisions concerning family matters would be more equitable. On August 27, 1927, Emily Murphy and her companions decided to petition the government, asking the Supreme Court to examine the meaning of the word “persons” in Section 24 of the British North America Act to determine whether it included female persons. The Court took the question under consideration on March 14, 1928. Six weeks later, it replied in the negative. One of the Supreme Court's arguments held that the Act should be interpreted in light of the times in which it was written. Since women were not politically active in 1867, they could not be elected. The five Alberta women did not accept this decision, appealing to the Judicial Committee of England’s Privy Council, the highest Court of Appeal for Canada at that time. On October 18, 1929, the five Lords of the Judicial Committee came to the unanimous conclusion that “the word ‘persons’ in Section 24 includes both the male and female sex.…” According to them, the exclusion of women from public office was “a relic of days more barbarous than ours.” In 1930, Cairine Wilson became the first woman appointed to the Canadian Senate, just months after the Persons Case. A fluently bilingual mother of eight, Cairine Wilson spent over 30 years in the Canadian Senate, and was best known for her support of the causes of refugees. Throughout her Senate career, Cairine Wilson also supported issues involving the rights of women and children, more progressive divorce legislation, and was a proponent of Medicare. In 1949, she became Canada’s first female delegate to the United Nations. It was 23 years before another woman was appointed to the Senate in Canada. Wilson died in 1962, while still a Senator.