Women's Suffrage In Canada

They Fought, They Inspired: 100th Anniversary of Women’s First Right to Vote

Gender equality had always been a vast topic for the ancients to solve and for modern society to improve on. From the society's early beginning of Masculinity to the gender equality contemporary world that we are maintaining, year 2016 has been exactly a century since women in Canada had first received their right to vote in the 20th century. In today’s world, it is not uncommon or abnormal for abounding amounts of females voting or running for political parties. This hundred-year recognition was earned through many female’s and male’s withstand to rights for women to vote. Many trials and obstacles were present for women when they were fighting for their right

to vote. Women in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta were the first three provinces to achieve their right to vote in 1916. The reason for their earlience in rights for women to vote was the abundance of newly immigrated families that came to the prairies had brought forward and gender equality thinking into Canada, which evolved into an immerse impact on the success of the women’s suffrage. Also, the campaigning for the right for women to vote was at its highest peak during the 1910s when World War One broke out. *

The success of the three provinces is not an individual event but a part of global movement of women’s suffrage.

While the understanding of women’s right to vote was still new to the prairies in Canada, the movement for women’s right to vote was not a new for other parts of the world. In the United Kingdom, 1832, the first petition of women's suffrage was presented to Parliament, while in Alberta it was not until 1914. Evidently, because European immigrants had already had similar campaigns for the prior knowledge and findings of women’s right to vote, they had more experience and knowledge within the specific topic. The immigrants who had similar ongoing events in their homeland brought their skills and debating facts of rights for women into Canada, making Canada a continuation of their campaign. Regarding this, in United Kingdom in 1907, the Women's Freedom League was formed after a break from the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) which had caused many young teens and women to be affected by this. Additionally, Icelandic women, who also had the vote in their home country, campaigned for the vote since their arrival in Manitoba in the 1870s, yet it was not seen as a highly attentioned campaigned at that time due to the lack of

participants.

On the other hand, the unique physical and political situation in the three prairie provinces contributed to the success of the granting of women’s suffrage. As has been mentioned, the prairies tended to be more open to different ideas in a way than other inland provinces. Considering the the heavy focus on farming meant that the people in the prairies often felt that their needs were vastly different than those of other Canadians, leading them to be more independent. Thus, prairies tended to see more new parties forming and a much more different approach towards issues which saw more innovative ideas such as the right for women to vote. Despite the peak of the campaign movement for women’s vote, the former suggestion of women’s right to vote was considered by Prime Minister John A. Macdonald as early as 1883, though the vote was only available for propertied widows and spinsters. Similarly in that same year, groups of Toronto women and all the members of the Toronto Women's Literary Society created Canada's first suffrage organization: the Toronto Women's Suffrage Organization.

Alberta and Saskatchewan were both established in September 1st, 1905; making it one of the newest established provinces at that time in Canada. For that reason, Alberta and Saskatchewan’s politics and laws were not fully mature and strong enough compared to other provinces such as New Brunswick, which was one of the first provinces to join Canada in 1867. As a result of Alberta and Saskatchewan’s late accompaniment, their politics and laws that administratives Alberta was not as adhere as the other provinces. Perhaps it was one of the factors that nutrients the campaign to continue growing and finally being accepted.Prairie women gained provincial rights largely on their record and effort in helping to settle in, building and forming the community, and helping to build the country.

World War One (WWI) had been a major change and opportunity for the women in their call for voting right.

Due to the a sentence of working men's, women were suggested to do men’s work, such as making clothes for oversea men, filling bullets and shell bombs with materials, and many more occupations and works that were once the ‘privilege’ only to men. After WWI ended, women were forced to leave their occupation and return back to their life as typical ‘house maids’. This did not only cause the women’s anger and rebellion due to the fact that their jobs were taken away from them, but it also planted seeds deeply within women’s hearts of the consciousness of gender inequality. Before women in Canada had ever taken on jobs before, their lives were all about pleasing their men and baring, caring for their children. Women did not have a life of their own before the famous The Person’s case, led by Emily Murphy, Irene Marryat Parlby, Nellie Mooney McClung, Louise Crummy McKinney and Henrietta Muir Edward; however , that is to say after the women in the prairies had granted votes for them. To resume, the newly funded experience for the women due to their new jobs had sparked the courage and anger in them. This can also explain the year of women first received their rights to vote in 1916, barely two years after the outbreak of WWI. While women’s men were away fighting during WWI, votes were given to women during conscription so that the wives could vote in place of their husband.

During the vote on 17 December, 1917, about 500,000 Canadian women participated for the first time in a federal election. However, the act was repealed and taken back at the end of the war in welcoming of the soldier’s return.

The effort of immigrants from other locations of the world had contributed greatly by cooperation along with the prairie citizens. Finally, after waves of strikes by on January 28, 1916, Manitoba women became the first in Canada to win the right to vote and the right to hold provincial office. They were followed by Saskatchewan on 14 March and Alberta on 19 April. British Columbia approved women's suffrage on 5 April 1917, and Ontario suffragists, after many years of struggle, celebrated their hard-won victory one week later on 12 April. As of 2015, the greatest number of women (88) had been elected to the House of Commons, and the greatest number of 15 had been appointed as Cabinet ministers. A total of 30 women who sat in the Senate, and as of 2016, three provincial premiers were women.