In the 1800s, Canada was a patriarchal, or male-dominated, society. Only men were allowed to work and participate in public life, which involved business and politics. Society believed that women belonged in the home, not in public life. At home, they could fulfill their roles as mothers and family caregivers.

Some working-class women took on jobs outside of their household duties. They mainly did this to earn extra income to pay for basic needs. Many working-class women held jobs as domestic help, tutors, or seamstresses. If a woman was married, her husband controlled her wages. Read the quote below, an excerpt from the Upper Canadian Law Journal. What happened to a woman’s rights after she married?

One way women were able to participate in public life was through organizing charities. Many of these charities were sponsored by churches. Churches were still the centre of people’s social and cultural activities. The work of religious charities included taking care of widows and poor people, and sometimes involved missionary work in foreign countries. By the mid-1800s, more women had started to set up organizations that pushed for the social changes they thought necessary.

WOMAN’S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION

In the 1870s, the alcohol industry was growing steadily across Canada. It was very easy for businesses to get licences to sell alcohol. Many local governments depended heavily on the revenue from alcohol sales. Many women became concerned with the increasing number of social issues related to alcohol abuse. These included losing household income to alcohol purchases and increased violence in homes. These issues, together with strong Christian values, led women to form the Canadian Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in 1874. Temperance is choosing not to drink alcohol. The goal of the WCTU was to convince the government to ban the sale of alcohol, or force prohibition.

Under the leadership of Letitia Youmans, the WCTU became the largest women’s organization in Canada. The members of local WCTU branches were generally white, middle-class Protestant women.

By the 1890s, members of the WCTU realized that temperance campaigns alone would not convince the government to force prohibition. To put prohibition into action across the country, they would need the right to vote. The right for women to vote is also known as women’s suffrage.

In 1877, Dr. Emily Stowe founded the Toronto Women’s Literary Club. To outsiders, the organization was just a women’s book club. But secretly, the organization was Canada’s first women’s suffrage organization.

In 1883, the Toronto Women’s Literary Club changed its name to the Canadian Women’s Suffrage Association, Canada’s first national suffrage organization. Canada’s suffragettes actively campaigned for provincial and federal support for women’s right to vote. However, their campaigns were often met with polite rejection.

Look at the political cartoon from November 24, 1883 which shows the reaction of then-premier of Ontario Oliver Mowat to women’s voting rights. What do you think the cartoon reveals about the government’s attitude toward the suffrage movement?

In 1884, Prime Minister Sir John A. MacDonald stood in the House of Commons and spoke about a bill that would give unmarried women the right to vote. In his speech, Macdonald publicly supported giving unmarried women the right to vote. He also pointed out many other members were opposed to women’s suffrage. Ultimately, the 1884 federal bill to give women the right to vote was defeated.

On April 27, 1885, Macdonald once again stood in the House of Commons and spoke about a proposed bill that would give women the right to vote. Read the quote below which is an excerpt from his speech to the House of Commons. Despite having Macdonald’s support, women’s suffrage was not popular with other federal politicians. Why did Macdonald introduce this bill, despite the lack of political support?

In the provinces, the women’s suffrage movement experienced some success. In 1884, widows and older, unmarried women who owned property won the right to vote in municipal elections in Ontario. Eventually, the federal government decided that each province would determine which women would be eligible to vote in federal, provincial, and municipal elections. During the 1890s, other provinces followed Ontario’s lead and granted municipal voting rights to widows, unmarried women, and women who owned property.

1. What things have changed about women’s rights? What has stayed the same? Use a t-chart to complete your answer.