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1859
in ontario women with property, married or single, have the right to vote for school trustees -
Period: to
womens rights
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1857
The British Matrimonial Causes Act, adopted in Canada, makes divorce possible for women on the grounds of adultery -
1859
Married women can own property in Canada, but they cannot sell it. Sale of the property requires the agreement of the woman and her husband. -
1867
Dr. Emily Stowe (1831-1903) who will become a path-breaking Canadian woman physician and suffragist graduates in medicine from New York State University; she is not legally allowed to practice in Canada until 1880. -
1871
According to Manitoba's Act Respecting Married Women, a woman is allowed to keep ownership of her property, but any wages she makes goes to her spouse. If he is judged cruel or insane, she is entitled to her wages and those of any dependant children. -
1872
The Married Women’s Property Act of Ontario gives a married woman the right to her own wage earnings free from her husband’s control.
Women with dependant children who have no husband may have homestead land in accordance with the Public Lands of the Dominion Statute. -
1874
The Women's Christian Temperance Union is founded in Owen Sound, Ontario. -
1875
Grace Annie Lockhart (1855-1916) is the first woman to receive a university degree in Canada. (Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick). Dr. Jennie Trout (1841-1921) returns from a medical school in the U.S.A. with a medical degree. She is the first woman licensed to practice medicine in Canada. -
1876
A British common law ruling states that "women are persons in matters of pains and penalties, but are not persons in matters of rights and privileges”. Dr Emily Howard Stowe and her daughter, Dr Augusta Stowe-Gullen found the Toronto Women's Literary Club. The group is created for suffrage activities. -
1882
The Toronto Labour Council supports the principle of equal pay for equal work. First major strike of women workers in Toronto. Women shoemakers strike for union recognition, uniform wages, and a wage advances. -
1883
The Toronto Women's Literary and Social Progress Club becomes the Canadian Women's Suffrage Association. Sir John A. Macdonald introduces a bill into parliament that includes the granting of Dominion franchise to unmarried women and widows possessing the required property qualifications. The bill is not passed. -
1884
The bill is reintroduced in 1884, and defeated. It makes woman suffrage a provincial issue. The first municipal franchise was granted to widows and spinsters in Ontario. The Married Women's Property Act gives married women in Ontario the same legal capacity as men meaning that they can make legal agreements and buy property. -
1885
The Dominion Franchise Act is established and remains in effect until 1898. An eligible voter is identified as a male person, which includes any person of Aboriginal descent and excludes any person of Asian descent. A man can vote if he or his wife own property; she is responsible for the property tax. In Alberta, unmarried women property owners gain the right to vote and hold office in school matters. -
1886
Married women’s property legislation is passed in the Northwest Territories. -
1887
Women in Manitoba gain the right to vote in municipal elections, but are not eligible for municipal office until 1917. -
1889
The Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Association is created from The Canadian Women's Suffrage Association and campaigns for the vote for women. -
1890
Canadian Icelandic women, who had the right to vote in Iceland, are led by Margaret Benedictsson, to start the first suffrage movement in the west. Women ratepayers in Manitoba are able to vote and hold office at the school board level -
1890-1900
During the decade 1890-1900, bills for the provincial enfranchisement of women are introduced into the legislatures of Ontario, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, and Quebec, and all are defeated. -
1890
During this decade, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and the North West Territories grant the municipal franchise to widows and spinsters; Nova Scotia includes widows and spinsters and any married woman owning property, provided her husband is disqualified; British Columbia and Manitoba extend the municipal franchise to all women rate payers. In all the provinces, women ratepayers are given the school vote; and in Ontario, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, British Columbia, Manito -
1893
The National Council of Women of Canada is founded. It works for social rights of women and children. -
1894
The North West Territories allows unmarried women to vote in municipal elections but not to hold office. -
1894 - 1896
Petitions for the enfranchisement of women, from the Canadian Women's Suffrage Association, together with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, are presented to parliament in 1894 and 1896. -
1897
Adelaide Hunter Hoodless and Erland Lee form the Women's Institute. -
1900
Teaching is the only profession open to women that leads to a pension. Under The Dominion Elections Act, the only people who can vote in a federal election are ones who have the legal right to vote in a provincial election. Minorities (including women) who are excluded from voting in provincial elections are therefore automatically excluded from voting in federal elections. The Married Women's Property Act gives married women in Manitoba the same legal capacity as men. Previously, a woman livi -
1903
The Married Women's Property Act gives married women in P.E.I. the same legal capacity (legal right in matters of property) as men. -
1907
The Manitoba Municipal Act is amended so that women are excluded as voters in municipal elections, although they had been granted this right previously. Public protest forces the act to be amended again.
The Married Women's Property Act gives married women in Saskatchewan the same legal capacity (legal right in matters of property) as men. -
1910
Alberta grants the municipal franchise to widows and spinsters, but not to married women. The Manitoba Women’s Institute is formed in Morris MB. -
1911
The Saskatchewan Deserted Wives’ Maintenance Act requires husbands to pay support if they deserted their wives or forced them to leave. -
1912
The Manitoba Illegitimate Children’s Act allows an unwed mother to bring court action to require the child’s father to pay child support and expenses.
Carie Derick is the first woman in Canada to become a full professor at McGill University in Montreal.
The Manitoba Political Equality League is founded in Winnipeg by a group of women including Nellie McClung.
Montreal Suffrage Association is formed. -
1914
Alice Jamieson is appointed judge of the juvenile court in Calgary in 1914. She becomes the first woman in Canada and in the British Empire, appointed to a court.
On January 28, Nellie McClung and other members of the Manitoba Political Equality League stage a mock "Women’s Parliament" in the Walker Theatre in Winnipeg to debate the question of whether men should be allowed to vote. The mock parliament uses humour to point out the unfairness of not allowing