The Suffragette Movement In The Early Twentieth Century

Sometimes, in order to have justice in this world, violent actions need to be taken to be able to get a point across and fight for what is fundamentally right. In today’s society, feminism is viewed as a non-violent way of having the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. However, it was not always like that. In order to have the level of equality modern societies have today, daring and sometimes violent things took place. A case in point being the Suffragette movement in the early 20th century. Over the years, the Suffragettes faced many challenges and winning feats such as being granted their right to vote federally, but their actions and the actions taken by one of their most successful groundbreakers, Thérèse Casgrain, are the reason why women can now be treated equally in Canadian society.

Quite ironically, the spark that pioneered the Suffragette movement was the fault of a man. The Constitutional Act of 1791 stated that tenants or owners of land can be granted the right to vote. However, the act

never distinctively made that apply to men only, causing a few brave women to try and vote under this misconception, but they were turned down due to social ideologies at that time. Even though these events might seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, it led to a fundamental change in the system more than one hundred years later, when Quebec premier Charles-E. Boucher granted single, landing-owning women and widows the right to vote in certain elections, like municipal and school elections.

The actual Suffragette movement began in the beginning of the 20th century.

It started off small, and the group faced much opposition from the clergy, their government, and other more conservative women. This opposition, while mainly driven forward by decades of unconscious internal sexism, was also founded on the more violent acts taken by some members of the movement. For example, in 1909, Montreal Mayor Louis Payette was assaulted in his office by Helen Wright, a Suffragette, when she smashed his inkstand because she got impatient. However, the movement also helped women in a more peaceful way with campaigns and petitions, and making it known by going door-to-door that certain women could vote in Montreal’s municipal elections in 1910, like unmarried or widowed property owners. On a federal level, women who were connected to men that were in the war effort could legally vote in 1917. This led to the bill letting women vote federally in

1918.

The fight for the right to vote provincially however was far from over for Quebec women. Coincidentally, this is also where Thérèse Casgrain steps in. While the earlier Suffragettes took to some cases of violence to get their point across, she used the more peaceful approach. She is one of the most influential leaders for the Suffragette movement due to her dedicated involvement in getting Quebec women the right to vote provincially. Her actions led to women gaining their voices back in being able to choose their political leaders. How did she do so? Well, Thérèse Casgrain first started off by trying to educate Quebec women about her cause in her radio show, Fémina. After that, and by the help of her position as president of the League of Women’s Rights, she started getting bills passed in parliament in support of her cause. Her rallying came to a successful stop in 1940 when Premier Adelard Godbout passed a bill giving Quebec women the right to vote provincially. After that, Thérèse Casgrain went on to become the first ever woman leader of a political party in Canada when she headed the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation. She was also made a Senator by former Prime Minister Trudeau in 1970. Until her death, she was a major advocate for women’s rights, making her one of the greatest leaders in Canadian history.

The fight for women’s rights in Canada was a long and hard one. Not only did the Suffragettes break through their social barrier in order to be granted their right to vote, but they managed to do so while facing opposition from all sides. Their hard work and dedication will always be commended, but the work of Thérèse Casgrain truly pioneered women’s rights in Quebec. Her work as an activist not only gave women their right to vote, but gave them a reason to believe in themselves and said that they could be something better than they ever thought, which is truly why she can be considered as one of the most powerful role models in Canadian history.