Canadian Women's Suffrage

Did you know that 2008 marks the 90th anniversary of the Canada Elections Act of 1918? The Canada Elections Act first enfranchised all Canadian women over the age of 21 for federal elections, regardless whether they had the right to vote in provincial elections.



Nellie McClung (left), Emily Murphy (right) and Laura Jamieson (March 1916) were
the leaders of the feminist cause in western Canada. (Courtesy City of Edmonton Archives)
Throughout the debates on this suffrage legislation, the telling argument of its wisdom was the competence shown by women during World War I.

Activity: The history of women's suffrage indicates that Canada was among the leading nations to grant voting rights to women--just ahead of the U.S. in 1920. It would be interesting to study the struggle for voting rights in Canada, the U.S., and other nations that preceded them to discover the common motivation, the arguments against, and the successes that demonstrate the wisdom of these decisions.

Today, the only major countries of the world that still don't grant voting rights to women are the Muslim countries of the Middle East.

ProQuest has created an eLibrary Canada BookCart entitled "Canadian and World Suffrage for Women" that helps students to access the resources needed to learn more about the continuing struggle for women's rights, including suffrage in many other countries.

This BookCart includes several examples of essential questions for critical thinking. These questions (teachers can create others) engage students and require original thought and reasoned opinion. Student should answer at least two of the essential questions. You'll find that this BookCart contains all the information that students will need to produce a quality report, whether it's in a written report of at least 150 words, or something more engaging, such as a PowerPoint presentation.

To view and copy these or any other BookCarts to the My Local Carts collection for your school, click here.

Pathfinder: Open your eLibrary Canada Teacher Edition > Click BookCart Admin at the top right > Select the ProQuest Carts tab > Click the Canadian BookCarts folder > Select the Copy icon for "Canadian and World Suffrage for Women" > Return to My Local Carts

Your new BookCart will appear with "Copy of" as a title prefix. Click the BookCart Title to open the Editor, delete "Copy of" from the title, add your name in the Author box > Click the Save button at the bottom. Your BookCart is ready for students to use!