| It may seem that there's a long way to go before women will
be truly equal partners in Canadian society. After all, women still earn
only about 70% of the incomes that men do, accessible child care has yet
to be achieved, violence against women is a continuing serious concern,
and women, particularly single mothers, suffer disproportionately from
poverty in Canada.
Nevertheless, we have come a long way. Just some of the benchmarks in
Canadian women's road to equality are highlighted below.
| When |
Who |
What |
| 1875 |
Grace Annie Lockhart |
Mount Allison University, First university degree given
to a woman |
| 1876 |
Dr. Emily Howard Stowe and her daughter, Augusta Stowe-Gullen |
formed the Toronto Women's Literary Club, a screen for suffrage
activities |
| 1883 |
Dr. Augusta Stowe-Gullen |
Victoria College, Cobourg, first woman to graduate in medicine
from a Canadian university |
| 1897 |
Clara Brett Martin |
first women admitted to the profession of law in the British
Empire |
| Jan 28, 1916 |
Manitoba |
first province to allow women the right to vote and hold
provincial political office |
| March 14, 1916 |
Saskatchewan |
women get provincial vote |
| April 19, 1916 |
Alberta |
women get provincial vote |
| June 13, 1916 |
Emily Murphy |
Edmonton, the first woman appointed as magistrate in the
British Empire |
| April 5, 1917 |
British Columbia |
women get provincial vote |
| April 12, 1917 |
Ontario |
women get provincial vote |
| June 7, 1917 |
Louise McKinney and Roberta MacAdams |
Alberta, first women elected to provincial legislature |
| September 20, 1917 |
Wartime Elections Act |
women in armed forces or with military relatives were given
the right to vote while citizens of "enemy alien" birth were disenfranchised |
| April 26, 1918 |
Nova Scotia |
women get provincial vote |
| May 24, 1918 |
Canada Elections Act |
all women over 21 get federal vote |
| April 17, 1919 |
New Brunswick |
women get provincial vote |
| Dec 6, 1921 |
Agnes Campbell Macphail |
first woman elected to the House of Commons |
| May 3, 1922 |
Prince Edward Island |
women get provincial vote |
| April 13, 1925 |
Newfoundland |
women get provincial vote |
| April 24, 1928 |
The Persons Case |
the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously decided that women
were not persons who could hold public office as Canadian senators |
| 1929 |
British Privy Council |
Reversed the Supreme Court's Persons Case decision |
| Feb 15, 1930 |
Cairine Reay Wilson |
Canada's first woman senator |
| April 25, 1940 |
Quebec |
women get provincial vote |
| June 21, 1957 |
Ellen Louks Fairclough |
the first woman appointed to the federal cabinet |
| January 17, 1974 |
Pauline McGibbon |
Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, the first woman appointed
Lieutenant Governor in Canada |
| September 17, 1974 |
Royal Canadian Mounted Police |
accept women recruits for first time |
| May 14, 1984 |
Jeanne Sauve |
first woman appointed Governor general of Canada |
| March 29, 1993 |
Catherine Callbeck |
Premier of PEI, first woman chosen as provincial premier |
| June 25, 1993 |
Kim Campbell |
first woman to become Prime Minister |
| July 17, 1995 |
Christine Silverberg, Calgary Chief of Police |
the first female police chief of major Canadian city |
Source: The Canadian Encyclopedia |
