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First Wave Feminism In Canada

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First Wave Feminism Focusing on Canada First wave feminism refers to the period of feminist activity in the late 19th century and early 20th century in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the United States of America and Canada. “While the word suffrage, derived from the Latin “suffragium,” it simply refers to the right to vote, the modern connotation specifically calls to mind the women’s suffrage movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries” (Dolton, Graham, 2014). Certainly the period of first wave feminism affected many people, women and men, and Caroline Gordan Archibald was one of those many people. As a result of Caroline Archibald being born in in the beginning of the women’s movement in 1854, she would have lived through many …show more content…

The first suffrage Association appeared in Toronto in 1877, disguised as a Woman’s Literary Society and by 1918 all women over the age of 21 had a federal and most provincial ballot” (Bacchi, 2002). During first wave feminism many people had different opinions, some women wanted the vote, an education, the right to own property, to be able to appear as a witness in court, sue in court, have the same political rights as men and have a wider range of job opportunities. Women wanted and fought for greater control over their person, and greater sphere of influence. There were plenty of reasons why women wanted the vote and argued that “giving the vote to women, especially to married women, increases the weight of the family vote and so of the solid, stable element in political life” (Bacchi, 2002). While a portion women believed that women having the vote would help the family, several women just wanted to have a voice of their own, it could be argued that the home protection argument was largely rhetorical design to make the movement more palatable to the public. For example, Dr. Emily Stowe, founder of the Toronto Women’s Literary Society was considered the “mother of the suffrage movement in Canada” (Bacchi, 2002), she campaigned for professional educational and occupational opportunities for women. Dr. Emily Stowe considered the “home circle too narrow and too confining to absorb all a woman’s capabilities and insisted instead that every field of activity be open to women” (Bacchi, 2002). Even though I am unsure how Caroline Gordon Archibald felt about women getting the vote and being included in the part of the women’s movement, I would like to think that she wanted the vote and wanted more possibilities for women. Feminist, journalist, and business woman Flora McDonald Denison strived for complete economic independence for both

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In the early 20th century, women fought for the right to vote. After more than half a century of continuous activism, the 19th amendment was passed, granting women voting rights. This triumph was merely the beginning of what the women’s rights movement would accomplish. Over the next several decades, women campaigned for policies which challenged societal norms and gave them equal footing with men. Pinpointing a sole cause of this movement has proved to be somewhat problematic, as there are several factors to its rise.

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However, it took an embarrassing amount of time for society to realize that this is such a basic right for any citizen of a free country. After World War 1 the world honoured the sacrifices made by women and provided nurses who served as well as immediate female relatives of veterans the right to vote (Canada and Total War). This was a groundbreaking advancement for the movement of female equality in Canada because it finally put them on the same level as the white privileged men of the country however many people of colour were still denied this basic human right. The first time women were voting in 1917, led to all women being able to vote by 1919 as well as women being able to run for positions in government. Overall, women's voting was a critical part of helping the movement for female equality in

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After the deaths of many of the women’s rights activists from the older generation, younger leaders began to take charge, and they often aligned themselves with the Progressives. During this time, women’s roles were viewed as homemakers, so many of the Progressive women defended their reform actions as an extension of the traditional role of women. Among, the many values held for many decades by these reformers was the right to vote for women. In her piece, “Why Women Should Vote”, Jane Adams argued how women needed this right “in order to preserve the home,” (Doc C). These views developed into the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, which gave women the right to vote.

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“ A crusade in political education by women and for women, and for most of its existence, a crusade in search of a consistency” this quote by historian Nancy Woloch describes early suffragists efforts to take one step further to equality among men and women (Office of the Historian, 2007). The women 's suffrage movement changed the political, social and economic stance of women in The United States during the early twentieth century. Today women are one step closer to full equality of the sexes because of the women who fought for suffrage. Before this became the huge movement it was still legal for some women to vote in a few states. In Massachusetts and New York emphasis placed on owning property was the determining factor in voting rights.

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Throughout the 20th century many avenues of society were forever changed thanks to advocacy groups. Inequalities have been corrected, policies and laws have been changed, and the sexism intertwined throughout culture, social structures and in everyday life is no longer seen as acceptable. Many groups especially women’s advocacy groups in Canada, have achieved this positive change. The “Quiet Revolution” was the advocacy for women’s rights which took place in Quebec from the mid 1950s to the late 1960s (Gosselin, 2006). Although they did not identify as feminists, women’s groups in Quebec demanded and advocated for equal rights and the inclusion of women in the political sphere giving women a voice within government “to oppose the sexism of

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General Info: - 19th century= Canadian women organizing to change place in society= equality - The women 's movement = demanded justice. achieved some equality for Canadian women in legal and political ways. - Canadian woman tried to change society for better - Fought for their rights - Previous to WW1: low paying jobs for women - Ended careers once married - National council of women formed in 1893. Helped improved public health, immigrants, factory workers - In 1919 eleven women in Ontario became lawyers - In 1927 first woman engineer graduated U of T Voting/ political: - 1893- national council of women was founded - By 1900- throughout Canada, municipal voting privileges for propertied woman were general - 1918- council contributed to

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Many women later began to use the term “feminism” to describe their reform efforts that stressed social justice, economic equality, and sexual freedom. (Book, 533) Margaret Sanger is a woman that pushed for widespread use of contraception. Early advocates of women’s rights thought that only educated women should vote, but progressive reformers wanted all women to have that right. The nineteenth amendment gave women the vote to in national

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John Stuart Mill, who was a supporter of women’s right to vote, highlighted the notion of women’s suffrage and brought national attention to the issue. He proposed a law in 1867 to allow unmarried women the right to vote, which did not pass but did create discussions about the inequality. Women first started gaining access to politics through local government and by 1879 there were 70 women in local school boards, women could stand as poor law guardians, sit on the poor law board, and from 1907 they could sit on borough and county councils. This gave women a way into politics, but men deemed these the lesser positions that women could handle, where as the parliament seats and more prominent positions were strictly kept for men. This also did not give them any authority in the national decisions.

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Women fighting for their equality in society is still an issue in the western and non-western countries. This paper will explore women’s rights such as their employment and health rights in India and Canada as they are still very controversial issues today. India is known as a country with a patriarchal system, where inequality and gender issues of women are more frequently seen as opposed to Canada. Canada is known as a country with various types of people from several ethnic backgrounds and where equality is most commonly seen with a very few exceptions. “Urban India still faces the issue of women’s employment and reproductive rights, however, there are resources such as the ‘Action Aid’s Young Urban Women’ program to help support these poor

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Annotated Bibliography Government of Canada. (2017, June 07). Policy on Gender Equality. Retrieved March 4, 2018, from http://international.gc.ca/world-monde/funding-financement/policy-politique.aspx?lang=eng The piece of government legislation that will be analyzed is the current policy on gender equality, which is formulated by Global Affairs Canada.

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INTRODUCTION Prior to the twentieth century women in the United Kingdom were excluded from parliamentary elections and were not permitted to have a say in political matters concerning their country. On the 6th of February 1918 however, with the conclusion of World War 1 the British government passed the Representation of the People Act 1918 enfranchising all women of the age of thirty and on December 4th 1918 almost seven million women participated in their first ever parliamentary election. For almost fifty years women from all over Britain fought and struggled to secure this right. This is known as the suffrage campaign. The largest and most famous suffrage groups running the campaign were the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) known

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It was an enormous social change for women to take part in public decision making, and gave them a voice to abolish unjust laws. The suffragettes in Australia argued that they were intelligent enough to vote, that it was unfair for them to be taxed without representation, and that they were equal to men therefore should have equal rights. In contrary, the suffragettes’ opponents alleged that women already had indirect power through manipulating their husbands and father’s voting choices at the ballot box, that women were equal but different and that women could not fulfil the duties of citizenship therefore should not vote. The suffragettes encouraged people to sign their petition, as well as held meeting and debates in order to gain supporters. Women in Australia used civil methods of protest, and didn’t adapt the more radical methods used by suffragettes in other countries.

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Feminist is ‘a political position’, the female is ‘a matter of biology’ and feminine is ‘a set of culturally defined characteristics’. The representation of women in literature is one of the most important forms of ‘socialization’ and it provided the role models which indicated to women and men to constitute an acceptable version of the ‘feminine’. (122) There are three waves of feminism: the first wave was in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the second was in the 1960s and 1970s and the third from the 1970s to the present. The first wave refers mainly to “women’s suffrage” movements (mainly concerned with women’s right to vote).

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