Women forced out of their jobs Unemployment levels increase Inflation (rise in prices, drop in...

Women forced out of their jobs Unemployment levels increase Inflation (rise in prices, drop in buying

power) Spanish flu epidemic kills 50,000

Canadians Demand for women’s rights increases Urbanization (more moving to cities)

Strikes› After Russian revolution that began with

labour unrest and general strikes (Cause) Unions were forming (pg. 156 Figure 6-9) Economic unrest Cycles of rising wages and prices Veterans (PTSD (shell shock), no services

to support soldiers, disabilities)

May 1919 Employers refused to negotiate wages More and more employees in Winnipeg joined Within days strikers = 30,000 basically

shutting down the city RCMP brought in Things get violent, 1 dead, 100 injured Strikers return to work on June 25 because

feared would lose their jobs Some forced to sign agreements not to join a

union

Many jailed Some deported Union membership drops Unemployment rises Law made for employers to recognize right of

workers to bargain collectively through a union Began new political involvement for workers Sparked strike leaders to pursue political

positions› J.S. Woodsworth elected to HOC and later helped

create what we now know as NDP

Blamed for social problems› Crime› Public drunkenness, family violence, poverty

Result = temperance movement encouraging people to abstain

Thought was no alcohol = less family problems (historical perspective)

Actually was enacted during War Measures Act in 1918 and continued after war

Not everyone wanted prohibition Illegal trade developed Criminals became rich selling illegal liquor 1921 govt repeals prohibition and

replaced with govt controlled sales Prohibition in US continued longer

allowing profitable business opportunity for Canadians

“ rum-runners” sold illegal alcohol to Americans

And women played a role as well……

Key Events

1917 – Some women receive right to vote (Suffrage)› Had to have a relative (Father, Brother,

Husband) who was a soldier 1921 – First election where ALL women

could vote, Agnes Macphail elected 1929 – “Person’s Case” 1931 – Cairine Wilson appointed first

female Senator in Canada

Arguments against giving Women the Right to Vote

Politics is too corrupt for women Allowing women to vote will cause

arguments in the home Women will vote the same way as their

husbands It is not “womanly” to express political

opinions Women are too emotional to vote

First woman elected to the House of Commons, 1921

Fought for Senior’s pensions and worker’s rights

Also worked at reforming the corrections system in Canada

Up until this point, women’s clothing had been very conservative.

Some women (mostly young women) began to rebel against old ideas of how they should behave

Wore radical new dresses, which came down to just below their knees.

cut their hair in “bobs” or “shingles”.

Many of these “flappers” were also challenging gender stereotypes by going to jazz clubs, smoking, and drinking alcohol.

At the beginning of the 20s, men had the right to divorce if their wives had an affair.

Women, on the other hand, could not divorce their husband no matter how many affairs he had.

In 1925 this law was changed so that women could also ask for divorce in the case of adultery.

In 1930, women would also gain the right to divorce if their husband had abandoned them for over 2 years.

Forget it! Birth Control was illegal, as was the

selling, advertising or publication of any medicine, drug, or article intended to aid in preventing conception or causing an abortion.

Women like Nellie McClung begin to draw attention to this issue, but it would go unresolved for a long time.

You cannot get married or keep company with men.

You must be at home between 8 pm and 6 am unless at a school function

You cannot loiter downtown in ice cream parlours

You cannot smoke or drink any alcohol You cannot ride in any carriage or automobile

with any man except your brothers or father You cannot dress in bright colours or wear

dresses more than 2 inches above the ankle

Emily Murphy Nellie McClung

Louise McKinney

Irene Parlby Henrietta Muir Edwards

Emily Murphy› https://www.historicacanada.ca/content/

heritage-minutes/emily-murphy Nellie McClung

› https://www.historicacanada.ca/content/heritage-minutes/nellie-mcclung?

Agnes MacPhail› https://www.historicacanada.ca/content/

heritage-minutes/agnes-macphail?

The Persons Case:› The Famous Five were fighting for the

right for women to sit in the Canadian Senate

› While women now had the vote, they were still not legally deemed “persons” and therefore could not sit on the Senate

› The Famous Five sent a petition to Ottawa asking if the word “persons” in the laws included female persons in 1927

The Supreme Court decided that, in fact, under Canadian law, women were not persons.

The Five appealed this decision to the Privy Council in London, supported by William Lyon Mackenzie King

The London Court agreed with the Five and ruled that women were included in the term “persons” 1929.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1LW5Srxd4Y59:30-1:04:40

"The Canadian-American frontier point, where artful dodgers of both sexes sometimes take points (and pints) past the officials." 

We see a woman from the waist down. The customs official shows how women can hide bottles inside their dresses. He says "The women are about as bad offenders as the men." A man models a device which fits around his waist and can hold 6 quarts of alcohol. The customs official turns the device upside down and the booze pours out. http://www.britishpathe.com/video/the-dodgers-a-prohibition-sidelight-from-buffalo/

query/CANADIAN+WOMEN