ipl-logo

Edwards Vs Canada

432 Words2 Pages

The Persons Case, also known as Edwards v Canada, is a well known case that changed the roles of Canadian women. Canadian women were not considered persons according to the 1876 British Common Law Ruling. Although many of Canada's provinces now permitted women to vote, they were still unable to run for public positions. In 1916 Emily Murphy became a judge in Edmonton, Alberta. The Alberta Supreme Court have already encountered this issue before, therefore already recognized females as ‘persons’. She was challenged by multiple lawyers every time she judged a case, that claimed she was not a person, and was unfit to perform her duties. Emily Murphy was the first magistrate in British History. This drove Emily’s desire becoming the first female senator as well. She asked her lawyer, which also is her brother, for help concerning the issue. After some time, her brother advised her to appeal to the court with four other people. Emily invited four women, which they were eventually recognized as the Famous Five, (Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney and Irene Parlby) to join her petition. They inquired the question: “Does the word ‘person’ in section 24 of the British North American act include female ‘persons’ ?” The supreme court of Canada answered no shortly …show more content…

Women, although were able to vote, did not have much authority over many aspects of their lives. They were not given a voice to express or represent themselves. They were not considered equivalent to men. The Persons Case allowed them to run for public positions, attend university and get better a education. They were finally able to control their life, make decisions and were given more opportunities, as to what they want to become, rather than always teachers, nurses, and other “women suitable” jobs. Women with the power to control their lives, could do much more than

Show More
Related
1526 Words | 7 Pages

Regardless of her appointment, she was met with heated resistance by her male peers. Her first case was challenged by the defence lawyer claiming she was not a person under the British North America Act of 1867 3. This was due to ambiguous and gendered language in Section 24 of the British North America Act of 1867. The BNA act of 1867, also known as the Constitution Act, were a collection of policies in the Constitution of Canada. Section 24 stated that only “qualified persons” could be appointed to the Canadian Senate5.

Read More
374 Words | 2 Pages

Murphy's significance can be seen as the result of her actions developed Canada into a well respected and enhanced country due to the influence she had on the 1930, Senator Cairine Wilson, would not have been selected as a Senator, if Emily Murphy did not persevere during the Person's Case. Due to Emily Murphy and her actions, Cairine Wilson had an massive impact on Canada as she dealt with prominent problems within society. Cairine Wilson's dealings improved the country and began to solve troubles within the public. Canada emerged as a country being known as just and fair since Cairine Wilson petitioned the problems she thought were outstanding.

Read More
834 Words | 4 Pages

Elsie MacGill wasn’t your average girl during the mid-1900’s. She wanted to help for the greater of human kind in all aspects of things. She wanted to be the best and in her case she was. Elsie, along with her mother were set a lot “firsts” and were top to the some of the world’s best. Elsie loved contributed to society and many other things in her lifetime including fighting for women’s rights, designing airplanes for the Second World War Elsie was born on March 27th, 1905 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Read More
1143 Words | 5 Pages

Women in Canada could not be appointed to the Canadian Senate because they were not considered to be “persons” under the BNA Act. Section 24 of the BNA Act stated that “only qualified persons” could be appointed to the Senate. “Nellie was one of five women gathered on Emily Murphy’s veranda that hazy day in August 1927, to discuss petitioning the federal government about the meaning of Section 24. There was an obvious and simple way for them to pose their question: did the word “persons” in that clause include female persons”(Our Nell: A Scrapbook Biography of Nellie L. McClung pg.177). The answer they received was that the word persons did not include female persons.

Read More
1281 Words | 6 Pages

Victoria, who died nearly twenty years before Clinton was born, ran a path which no women before her dared to tread. What’s more amazing is that she did it more than 50 years before the 19th amendment was ratified in 1920, which gave women the right to vote. Victoria ran as part of the Equal Rights Party, which supported equal rights for women and women’s suffrage. Victoria, who shattered the glass ceiling for the many that would come after her, never cared for rules or regulations of a game she considered egregiously rigged against women. Her attitude towards the rules and regulations of society relates her to Equality

Read More
2087 Words | 9 Pages

Women’s rights are human rights. Women felt so underestimated and dependent on the men in their lives but they are very intelligent and had many great ideas on their own. After their right to vote was put into action, opportunities did not just jump at them with open arms, they had to work for what they wanted and they had to prove to everyone around them that they were worthy of having a say in what goes

Read More
794 Words | 4 Pages

Although the opinions of some changed over the following century, much of society retained these expectations for women, continuing to observe laws restricting their rights. Although they were respected, women were viewed as second to men. Those who were successful owed much of the publicity they received to a man- despite the contributions and ideas that they brought on their own, society only truly listened to what they had to say if they had the support and encouragement of a husband, father, or brother. Adding to the unyielding laws enclosing women was the fact that they were not allowed to vote. They could speak against laws in public, but could not vote to abolish or change them.

Read More
605 Words | 3 Pages

Susan helps make a difference and all the other people didn’t do what Susan did. In the article, Anthony saw in the amendment a legal case of the right of women to vote. Later in the article, it said Selden argued that his client was on trial simply for being women. In the quote, “ has the prisoner anything to say why sentence should not be pronounced?” This was the opportunity that Anthony was waiting for.

Read More
1024 Words | 5 Pages

That is the right to vote. Many men during this time had very onservitive views on what a women is allowed to do. They expected very little from them and women were frowned upon for voicing their opinons. Jane Addams changes all that and gave the women the couage and confidence they needed to fight for what they deserve. Some even called her the “key voice of women and a key progressice reformer” (teachinghistory.org).

Read More
748 Words | 3 Pages

Addams left an important legacy in order to change society with new reforms, in which women must be committed to change their traditional mentality. Her legacy was her believe that women should have the right to vote because they had opinions that matter and needed to be heard instead of being ignored. These women were not only wives or mothers, but they had the ability to make decisions based on their knowledge and found solutions. This means that women could provide many contributions that many working men ignored. These working men were not aware of what happened in

Read More
1017 Words | 5 Pages

(Ware 1). A woman’s life back then was so much different from life today. Women now have the right to vote, own land, and have leadership roles. Women now have all of the rights that anybody else

Read More
343 Words | 2 Pages

It gave women the right to vote which had an enormous impact on American society and culture and subsequently lead to other major benefits for women. Women didn’t have many rights before the Women’s Suffrage Movement. They could not vote, couldn’t own any property after marriage, or if married couldn 't keep their own wages. Men could of beaten their wife

Read More
848 Words | 4 Pages

Women were subject to a wide-ranging discrimination that marked them as secondary citizens, which is what gilderlehrman.org says. “She had no right to own property in her own name or to pursue career of her choice.” In addition, the article states, “Women could not vote, serve on juries, or hold public office.” Women didn’t have any rights that they wanted and were mostly not allowed to do anything which is unfair. A married woman had no separate legal identity from that of her husband.

Read More
835 Words | 4 Pages

The women of this movement were fighting for something they believed they deserve. Because of the Seneca Falls Convention and the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolution, women were able to express their own opinions. The women’s rights movement led to many different events, impacted other countries, and created a new amendment. The feminist efforts in the mid 1800s were successful enough to allow women to take on occupations and educations they weren’t able to obtain

Read More
731 Words | 3 Pages

“Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.” a quote said by Timothy leary a former male american psychologist and writer. In the early 1900’s women did not have the simple right of voting, during those times men were given all the power even if they were abusive towards women it was acceptable. Now a days women have overcome many of these obstacles, not only with the right to vote but by having one of the biggest names in history are women. Everyone thinks that there is nothing but equal rights and everyone if given what they deserve.

Read More

More about Edwards Vs Canada

Related Topics

Open Document