B. Canada, 1890–1914: A Changing Society · Canada, 1890–1914: A Changing Society

Women and the Reform Movements

B1 B3 B2About 55 minutes

Learning goals

I can describe the roles of women in Canada between 1890 and 1914, at home and at work.
I can explain the women's suffrage movement and name key people and events, including Nellie McClung's Mock Parliament.
I can describe reform movements such as temperance and the Women's Institutes.
I can explain which women were left out of the early suffrage movement, and compare women's rights then and now.

Words to know

suffrage
The right to vote.

suffragist
A person who worked to win the vote for women.

temperance
A movement to reduce or ban the drinking of alcohol.

prohibition
A law banning the making and selling of alcohol.

social gospel
A Christian movement that said believers should work to fix social problems like poverty and unsafe work.

reform
Making changes to improve something, such as laws or living conditions.

mock parliament
A pretend parliament, put on as a play, to make a point.

Let's start with a question

In 1910, a woman in Ontario could be a teacher, a nurse, a factory worker, a farmer, a writer or even a doctor. She paid taxes and obeyed the laws. But she could not vote for the people who made those laws. Why not? And what did women do about it?

Women's lives, 1890–1914

At home and on farms: most women worked unpaid at home: cooking, cleaning, sewing, raising children, gardening and caring for animals. On homesteads, their work was essential to survival.
Paid work: the biggest job for women was domestic service (cooking and cleaning in other people's homes). Others worked in factories (textiles, clothing, food), as teachers and nurses, and in new jobs as telephone operators, typists and store clerks. Women were usually paid much less than men, and many had to quit when they married.
Professions: a few women broke barriers. Dr. Emily Stowe was one of Canada's first women doctors; her daughter Augusta Stowe-Gullen was the first woman to earn a medical degree in Canada (1883). In 1897, Clara Brett Martin of Toronto became the first woman lawyer in the British Empire.
The law: women could not vote in federal or provincial elections, could not sit in Parliament, and married women had limited property rights.
First Nations women: under the Indian Act, a First Nations woman who married a man without status lost her own status and could be cut off from her community.

An antique wooden telephone switchboard with rows of jack holes, cords with plugs, a candlestick telephone and a headset, in a museum room. — Telephone operator was one of the new jobs open to women in these years. Operators connected every call by hand, plugging a cord into the right hole on a switchboard like this one. AI-generated image

Women organize for reform

Many women joined groups to improve society. Their work was often based on the idea that women had a special duty to protect families and children, and on the social gospel.

Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU): founded in Canada in 1874, it became Canada's largest women's group. It campaigned against alcohol, which members linked to poverty and violence at home, and became a strong supporter of the vote for women.
National Council of Women of Canada (1893): led at first by Lady Aberdeen, the Governor General's wife, it united many women's groups.
Women's Institutes (1897): Adelaide Hoodless, whose baby son had died after drinking impure milk, worked to teach health, nutrition and household science. The first Women's Institute was founded at Stoney Creek, Ontario, in 1897, for rural women. The movement spread around the world.
Victorian Order of Nurses (1897): brought nursing care to homes, including in rural and remote areas.

In 1898, a national vote on prohibition showed a small majority in favour, except in Quebec, where most voters said no. Laurier did not bring in a national ban.

The fight for the vote

Emily Stowe started the Toronto Women's Literary Club in 1876–77, really a group working for women's rights. It became the Toronto Women's Suffrage Association in 1883, and the Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Association in 1889.
Suffragists gave speeches, wrote articles, collected petitions and lobbied politicians. Many politicians laughed at them.
Nellie McClung was a Manitoba writer, teacher and campaigner. In January 1914, Manitoba's Political Equality League put on a Mock Parliament at Winnipeg's Walker Theatre. Women played the members of parliament, and a group of men came to ask for the vote. McClung played the premier and mocked the real premier, Sir Rodmond Roblin, who opposed votes for women, using his own arguments against men. The audience laughed, and the show raised money and support.

The results came soon after this unit ends: Manitoba became the first province to give women the vote, on 28 January 1916, followed by Saskatchewan and Alberta (1916) and B.C. and Ontario (1917). Most women won the federal vote in 1918.

McClung's role reversal: the same arguments sounded silly when men were the ones asking, which showed they were unfair.

Who was left out?

The early suffrage movement mostly represented white, middle-class, English-speaking, Protestant women. When women won the vote, not all women got it.

Asian Canadian women and men were kept from voting by provincial laws in B.C. and elsewhere; many could not vote federally until 1948.
First Nations women (and men) with status generally could not vote federally until 1960. Inuit gained the federal vote later as well.
Black women were not excluded by race in the law, but faced racism in many women's organizations and in society.
Quebec women did not get the provincial vote until 1940.

Some leading suffragists also held views about race and immigration that most Canadians reject today. Historians study both their achievements and their limits.

Women won the vote in steps, not all at once. Some women waited decades longer than others. (Years to scale.)

Year	Event
1876–77	Emily Stowe starts the Toronto Women's Literary Club
1889	Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Association
1893	National Council of Women of Canada
1897	First Women's Institute at Stoney Creek; Clara Brett Martin becomes a lawyer
1914	Nellie McClung's Mock Parliament in Winnipeg
1916	Manitoba women win the provincial vote (first in Canada)
1918	Most women win the federal vote

The road to women's suffrage. The last two rows come just after this unit.

Worked example

Modelled example: Analysing an argument from the past

In 1914, Premier Roblin argued that women did not need the vote because they had influence at home. How did McClung's Mock Parliament answer this?

Identify the argument: women should influence their husbands and sons at home, not vote; politics would harm women and the home.
See the strategy: in the Mock Parliament, the women's "government" used the same argument on men: men do not need the vote, politics would make them neglect their homes.
Why it worked: turned around, the argument sounded silly, which showed it was unfair. Humour made people listen.
Context: this was 1914; many people really believed politics was only for men. Two years later, Manitoba changed the law.

McClung used role reversal and humour to show that Roblin's argument was unfair. Understanding the context explains why the argument was common, and why the Mock Parliament was so powerful.

Use "many", not "all"

Not all women supported suffrage, and not all men opposed it. Many men voted for it in the end. Some women, especially in Quebec where Church leaders opposed it, did not support it. Historians avoid saying "women thought..." as if all women agreed.

Just for fun

Nellie McClung really knew how to turn the tables: in her 1914 Mock Parliament, the men had to come and politely ask the women for the vote. The show was such a hit that it raised money for the cause.

Hands-on activity

Hold a family mock parliament

You need: at least two people, paper and a pencil.

Pick a silly but harmless household "law" to debate, for example: Only people taller than 1.5 m may choose the dinner menu.
One person argues for it using reasons that sound serious ("Tall people can reach the shelves"). Another argues against.
Now swap: the person who would lose under the law makes the rules. Does the argument sound different from the other side?
Write a few sentences connecting this to McClung's Mock Parliament: How does role reversal show that a rule is unfair?

Look for: understanding that role reversal reveals unfairness, and a clear link to 1914.

Your turn

What was the most common paid job for women in this period?

Who was Clara Brett Martin?

What did the WCTU campaign for?

Where and when was the first Women's Institute founded, and by whose efforts?

What happened at the Walker Theatre in January 1914?

Which province first gave women the vote, and when?

Name a group of women who could not vote federally even after 1918, and one group who could not vote provincially in Quebec until 1940.

More practice: warm-up

What does suffrage mean?

Who was Premier of Manitoba during the Mock Parliament?

Who led the National Council of Women at first?

What is temperance?

When did most women win the federal vote?

More practice: on your own

Why did many temperance supporters also want women to vote?

Why was Adelaide Hoodless motivated to teach household science?

Explain how the Indian Act treated First Nations women unfairly in this period.

Why was humour an effective strategy for the suffragists?

Compare women's rights in 1910 and today in two ways.

Challenge

Was the suffrage movement a success? Give a balanced answer.

How were reform movements of 1890–1914 connected? Link temperance, public health, child protection and suffrage.

Explain this statement with evidence: "The suffrage movement shows historical perspective at work: people in 1914 were not all of one mind."

Check your understanding

Quiz

What does suffrage mean?

What was the largest women's group in Canada in this period?

Where was the first Women's Institute founded in 1897?

What did Nellie McClung's Mock Parliament (1914) show?

Which province first gave women the vote?

Who was the first woman lawyer in the British Empire?

Which women were left out when many women won the vote in 1916–1918?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: This lesson covers women's roles and the reform and suffrage movements (B3), compares women's rights then and now (B1), and examines different perspectives, including those left out (B2).

Ontario connection: Stoney Creek (Hamilton) and the Women's Institute; Emily Stowe and Clara Brett Martin in Toronto. The Erland Lee Museum in Stoney Creek is where the Women's Institute constitution was written.

How to help: Talk about who in your family first voted, and when. Ask: What rules today might people in 100 years find unfair?

Common difficulties: Thinking all women got the vote at once; thinking women did not work before the World Wars (many did, often unpaid or underpaid); dates: the Mock Parliament was 1914, Manitoba's vote 1916.