1921

• British Columbia passes maternity leave legislation – six weeks leave before and after giving birth.
  No other Canadian jurisdiction has maternity leave until 1964.

• 17.7% of women 14 years and older were in the labour force, mainly in office work.

• Alberta first province to have public health nurses, municipal hospitals and free dental and medical care for children.

   

Agnes Macphail, CCF MP

• First Canadian Member of Parliament, successfully campaigns for prison reform and
  old age pensions.

   

Nellie McClung, Liberal MPP

• Elected to the Alberta legislature where she campaigns for old age pensions, mothers’ allowance,
  legal protection for widows, better factory conditions, minimum wage, and birth control.

1922

• White women in Prince Edward Island win the right to vote in their province.

1925

• The federal divorce law changes to allow a woman to divorce her husband on the same
  grounds as a man c –adultery. 

• In Newfoundland, white women 25 years and older win the right to vote.

1928

• Canada’s Olympic Team includes women for the first time.

Anna Dexter

• Queen of the airwaves as Canada’s first woman radio broadcaster.

   

1927-1929 - The ‘Persons Case’

Emily Murphy

• Urges the Government of Canada to appoint a woman to the Senate – without success.
  
  Government cites British North American Act (BNA Act) which states only “ qualified Persons” may be in Senate,
  inferring women not “qualified persons” and therefore ineligible.
  
  In August 1927, Emily Murphy and four Alberta women – Nellie McClung,
  Henrietta Muir Edwards, Louise McKinney and Irene Parlby petition the 
  Privy Council of Great Britain to rule on women’s eligibility to the Senate.

• On October 18, 1929 the Privy Council rules the BNA Act should apply
  equally to women, stating,  “ the exclusion of women from public offices was
  “a relic of days more barbarous than ours”.

• Women now “persons” under the law and eligible for nomination to the Senate.

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‘The Famous Five’

Emily Murphy

• A prominent suffragette and reformer.

• Appointed a police magistrate in 1916, the first female police magistrate in
  the Commonwealth.

• She wrote books/articles under the name Janey Canuck.

Henrietta Muir Edwards

• An activist advocating public libraries, mothers’ allowances,
  equal parental rights, divorce and penal reform.

• Helped establish the National Council of Women (1893)
  and the Victorian Order of Nurses (1897).

• Published Canada’s first magazine for women - “Working Women of Canada”.

   

Louise McKinney

• Organizer and staunch supporter of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union.

• Became the first woman to sit as a Member of Legislative Assembly in Canada.

• She was elected in Alberta in 1917 during the first election in which
  Canadian women could vote or run for office.

   

Irene Parlby

• An advocate for rural women in Alberta, she was elected to the Alberta Legislature in 1921.

• Appointed the first female cabinet minister in Alberta, the second in the Commonwealth in 1921.

• She successfully sponsored the Minimum Wage for Women Act (1925).

• Spent her life supporting initiatives to improve the lives of women and children.

Nellie McClung

• A novelist who wrote 15 books.

• Social reformer, suffragette, and famed Canadian journalist.

• Led the first campaign to enfranchise North American women, beginning with Western Canadian women in the early 1910’s.

• A Liberal Member of the Alberta Legislature for Edmonton from 1921 - 1926.

1930s

• 19.4% of women aged 14 years and older were part of the labour force.

• Sometimes sole breadwinner as many husbands were unemployment during The Depression.

• Another change to federal divorce laws,  allowing a woman - deserted by her husband - to sue for divorce.

   

Cairine Reay Wilson

• The first woman appointed to the Senate of Canada largely due to the hard work of the Famous Five.