chapter 1 1896-1945: nationalisms and the autonomy of canada · • no voting rights until 1918,...

Chapter 2 1896-1945: Nationalisms and the

Autonomy of Canada

Section 7: Women’s Struggles

Pages that correspond to this presentation

Women’s struggles/right to vote/disrupting the established order/ women and the labour market: Pages 149-151

Womens’ right to vote in federal elections: Page 159

Womens’ right to vote in Quebec provincial elections: Page 189

Women and Feminism late 1800s-1940s

• Feminism…. How can we define it?

• Ideology that promotes and supports equal rights for women in many different ways and/or sexual equality for women

• An idea that has been promoted in Canada since the late 1800s

• An idea that is still defended today

• Many individuals and groups have helped women gain the same rights as men and continue to help women

Women and Feminism late 1800s-1940s • Late 1800s/early 1900s (same as chapter 1):

– Women were viewed as minors

– No right to vote or run for political offices in federal/Quebec provincial elections

– Needed consent (from fathers or husbands) to do a lot of things

– Women did not have the same right to education as men for a long time higher education like university

– Wages for women were often times much lower than men for the same type of work

– Many womens’ rights groups fought against these injustices

– Groups also fought for better public health and sanitation for children


• Lack of access to education

• Women did not have the same access to education as men higher education such as college/university

• Often times, women were mocked by men in settings of higher education

• Despite the founding of some “Classical Colleges” by women such as Marie Lacoste-Gérin (1908) women were still not enrolled at universities in large numbers until the 1930s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyD3iB2F_U4

Women and Feminism late 1800s-1940s • No voting rights until 1918, 1940

• Women in Canada were not granted to right to vote in federal elections until 1918 (we will discuss this in more detail during notes 2.8)

• Women in Quebec were only granted to the right to vote in Quebec provincial elections in 1940 (during World War 2)

• Why…?

• In the case of Quebec government was run by men who held ‘traditional’ views:

– Men took care of politics while women stayed at home and took care of the family

– These same men worried that giving women the right to vote would disrupt ‘the natural social order’ of the way society ‘should’ work

– Men worried that women would vote the opposite of men


• Resistance to womens’ rights

• The Catholic Church and other notables such as Henri Bourassa

– Thought that women had a place ‘in the home’ taking care of the family

– Women should not be out ‘in the public sphere’ (working in politics/government)

– Women working in the public sphere was against “natural social law” and “public interest”

Henri Bourassa

Source: The Canadian Encyclopedia Online.

I’m a jerk!


• Women and lack of equality in the workplace

• Despite women providing the same work as men in places like factories women were not treated equally the labour provided by women was considered to be less important

• This could be seen in the salary earned by women compared to men by the early 1930s women were earning about half as much as men (on average)


• In addition available jobs were limited for women factory work, domestic work (working in a wealthy person’s house), nurse, teacher, etc.

• Many women wanted jobs that were considered careers such as doctors, lawyers, etc.

• Many womens’ rights groups fought for equal treatment, equal pay and the right to pursue higher education and careers

Female Factory workers in Montreal Around 1901

Source: McCord Museum.

Women who fought for change: late 1800s – 1940s

• The first wave of feminism in the late 1800s-early 1900s

• Women created womens’ rights groups in order to create awareness of the plight of women

• Plight = suffering

• Women and womens’ rights groups used means such as petitions, conferences, articles and demonstrations to get their message across

• Demands made by feminists disrupted the status-quo of the established order (what society was used to)


• Suffragettes (late 1800s/early 1900s)

• Suffragettes = groups of women who worked together to gain equal rights for women right to vote and the ability to run for political office being the primary objectives

• Suffragettes also called attention to other social issues such as alcoholism, public sanitation and the health of children in cities

Group of Suffragettes in Quebec in 1920

Centre de resource sur la Non-Violence.


• Many different groups made up of suffragettes were formed all over Canada

• National Council of Women (late 1800s) fought for women to have access to higher education

• Fédération Nationale St. Jean Baptiste (1907) fought for better living conditions for women

Photographs of the first members of the Fédération Nationale St. Jean Baptiste in 1907

Source: Quebec National Library and Archives.< http://www.banq.qc.ca/histoire_quebec/parcours_thematiques/MarieGerinLajoie/Volet3/photo1.jsp>


• Marie Lacoste-Gérin-Lajoie and her daughter Marie Gérin-Lajoie (yes, both names are almost the same)

• Both women were involves with womens’ rights groups such as the Fédération Nationale St. Jean Baptiste

• Marie Gérin-Lajoie: – First woman in Québec to earn a University degree in arts

in 1911 – Published several articles in « La Bonne Parole », the

magazine established by the Fédération Nationale St. Jean Baptiste

– Opened a department of social services at Ste-Justine Hospital in Montreal

– A partial founder of the department of social work at the Université de Montréal she was also a professor there


Source: Fortin, S., Lapointe, D., Lavoie, R. & Parent, A. Reflections.qc.ca.: 1840 to Our Times. Cheneliere Education. 2017. Page 149


• Eva Circé-Côté • Important player in the feminist

movement in the • Late 1800s/early 1900s • Journalist, author, poet, librarian and

womens’ rights activist fought for better working conditions for women at the time

• Fought for woman workers’ rights free/mandatory education, equal pay for men & women

• Denounced the power of the RCC, corruption and social injustices

• Founded the first public library in 1903 access to educational resources (for women)

Source: Je Suis Feministe.

Eva Circé-Côté - Early 1900s


Source: Fortin, S., Lapointe, D., Lavoie, R. & Parent, A. Reflections.qc.ca.: 1840 to Our Times. Cheneliere Education. 2017. Page 150


• Idola Saint-Jean • Professor at McGill in the early 1900s • Worked for several womans’ suffrage

groups • Early 1920s Marched from Montreal

to Quebec City to help push provincial leaders to give women the right to vote in Quebec provincial elections this was unsuccessful

• 1930 Saint-Jean became the FIRST female candidate to run for political office in Quebec for a FEDERAL election

• Her work in combination with many other women eventually lead to granting women the right to vote in Quebec provincial elections in 1940

Idola Saint-Jean - 1901

Source: Encyclopedie de la Patrimoine Culturel de L’Amerique Francaise.


• Thérèse Casgrain • Daughter of Rondolphe Forget

(Notes 2.11) • Activist for womens’ right right to

vote and run for political office in Quebec

• Late 1920s founded the Women’s Rights League

• She convinced the Liberal government in 1938 to make voting rights for women an important part of their political platform

• Political platform = the ideas of a political party and what they want to accomplish

Thérèse Casgrain in 1942

Source: Wikipedia.

Womens’ right to vote in Federal elections

• The presence of women in the war effort in Canada during World War 1

• Because women were working hard to help the war effort producing military equipment women that fought for womens’ right felt that they could demand for equal treatment

• Robert Borden Canada’s Prime Minister during the war realized the important role women played in Canada

• These contributions helped women the right to vote in federal elections 1917 (if they had an immediate family member fighting in the war)

• By 1918 women had full rights to vote in federal elections (see notes 2.7)

Womens’ right to vote in Quebec provincial elections

• Fighting for the right to vote in Quebec

• Women in Quebec still did not have the right to vote in provincial elections even after 1918

• Strong opposition from many interest groups such as the Catholic Church

• Work done by many womens’ rights groups and people such as Therese Casgrain changed that

• Woman held marches in Quebec City to promote their cause to members of the Quebec National Assembly (government)


• April, 1940 • The Premier of Quebec Adelard

Godbout Liberal Party of Quebec

• Proposed a law to give women the right to vote AND run for political office in Quebec

• Opposition from the RCC in Quebec AND Catholic Women’s League

• Despite the opposition the law was passed

• 1 year later women had the right to vote in municipal elections (city elections)

Adélard Godbout in 1936

Source: Wikipedia.


Women getting Ready to vote in a Quebec provincial election for the first time in 1944

Source: The Montreal Gazette Online.

Document Analysis

What are the point(s) these documents are trying to make? Pro-feminist? Anti-feminist?

chapter 1 1896-1945: nationalisms and the autonomy of canada · • no voting rights until 1918,...

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