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maternal feminism in canada

Vote for Woman Suffrage Amendment No. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is proud of Canada’s engagement on maternal health. Women’s movements (or, feminist movements) of the 19th and early-20th century — often referred to as first-wave feminism — included campaigns in support of temperance, women’s suffrage, pacifism, as well as labour and health rights. Reference | NEW WOMAN, NEW WORLD: MATERNAL FEMINISM AND THE NEW IMPERIALISM IN THE WHITE SETTLER COLONIES Cecily Devereux Department of English, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2E5 Canada Synopsis — The New Woman, the figure of feminist rebellion who emerged in 1880s and 1890s in En- All rights reserved. Thursday, October 25 at 8:00 P.M. Presiding Officer, Mayor E. J. Foley. In 1891 Annie Parker, the Superintendent of Franchise for the Dominion f ‘First Wave’ Feminism in Canada 581 Women’s Enfranchisement Association, likened the family and home to a ‘miniature state’, a matriarchy ordered by God (Parker, 1890). Introduced a year after the partial franchise, to grant adults the right to vote; however, select populations of women and men were explicitly left disenfranchised: Aboriginal people, as well as Chinese, Japanese, and Indian immigrants. Canada committed $3.5 billion (2015-2020) to improve the health and rights of women and children around the world. By 1963, there was a partial test ban treaty, which Canada signed. These provisions in the legislation not only meant that significant a proportion of non-British immigrants were left out entirely, but also that French Canadians were greatly under-represented among the women who were enfranchised. Feminism - in the Maternal sense. This early activism was focused on increasing women's role in public life, with goals including women's suffrage, increased property rights, increased access to education, and recognition as "persons" under the law. The growing body of work in motherhood studies has long since rejected this form of essentialism. Credits, "A woman's place is in the home; and out of it whenever she is called to guard those she loves and to improve conditions for them." Immigration and urbanization brought many middle class women into contact with poverty, crime and abhorrent working conditions, much of which was often attributed to the slovenliness, alcoholism and poor parenting of the immigrant. The first wave of feminism in Canada occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Nancy Forestell with Maureen Moynagh, eds.. Many women observed the suffering of the poor, much of which they attributed to alcohol. Formal recognition of a widow’s lifetime interest in matrimonial property on the death of her husband. Infused with the language of domesticity, it called upon women to define a public role for themselves as women, sisters and mothers so as to improve society, and particularly to alleviate the suffering of women and children. Nellie McClung. They saw their maternal responsibility for children as the motivating force behind their reforming zeal. Also called first wave feminism; a movement to achieve greater civic rights for women; based its appeal on the biological differences between women and men, arguing that women have a natural nurturing instinct and ability which ought to be welcomed in a democratic system; women could apply the knowledge and attributes acquired from their universal role as mothers to address various inequities and social ills. ... and resented having to travel far south to acquire basic maternal and infant care. Individuals and groups associated with the movement to end slavery in the United States. By the mid-19th century, concerns about the injustices of slavery became increasingly connected with another kind of bondage seen to be experienced by women. Home  |  Terms & Conditions  |  FAQ  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy  |  Donations Policy. (Chunn 1999). Urban, Industrial, and Divided: Socio-Economic Change, 1867-1920, 3.2 Industrialization, Labour, and Historians, Chapter 4. Suffragist, armed with new found political influence, endorsed policies of assimilation or legislation to keep Canada from accepting people of “degenerating” races or religions. Although universal adult suffrage was introduced the next year, select populations of women and men were explicitly left disenfranchised: Aboriginal people, as well as Chinese, Japanese, and Indian immigrants. While single-issue suffrage groups in Canada remained relatively small and mainly confined to urban centres until the turn of the 20th century, the large female prohibition group the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was a vocal proponent from the 1870s onward. The Dominion Lands Act protected women’s interest in homesteads by forbidding the sale of the homestead by a husband without the wife’s written consent. While some female activists solely employed one position over the other, many strategically used both. The abolitionist movement built the foundation for subsequent social movements in Canada. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2017. The specific context of British North America as a settler society shaped by histories of colonialism and slavery had a significant influence on women’s activism from the outset. Early Women’s Movements in Canada: 1867–1960. It is significant that suffrage feminism is sometimes called imperial feminism and sometimes maternal feminism; both terms have equal validity for the project of the women’s movement between the 1880s and the 1920s. White, middle-class, British women (and male allies) adopted the rhetoric of moral reform, social decline, and Mothers of the Nation to argue that as mothers, their positions allowed them to contribute to the regeneration of the British race in Canada. They were especially prevalent in the first national umbrella women’s organization, the National Council of Women of Canada (NCWC), formed in 1893. In the specific case of Quebec, the staunch opposition of the Catholic church to women’s enfranchisement combined with the higher priority female reformers gave to advances in their legal rather than political status, meant that support for women’s suffrage was more muted there and the campaign longer. Referred to as maternal feminism, this form of argument emphasized that women could apply the knowledge and attributes they acquired as mothers to address various inequities and social ills. © 1998-2021 Manitoba Historical Society. or a suffrage association, to agitate for better divorce and property laws, to call for better access to higher education for women, or to work for better conditions for working women, activist women started from an awareness of the vulnerability of women at home and at work. Canada experience systemic, unequal participation in, and access to, maternal healthcare, through a post-colonial narrative. Nonetheless, those who came to predominate among the mainstream women’s organizations, namely middle-class Anglo-Celtic Protestant women, most closely identified with maternal feminism. A feminist approach to international assistance requires more than just money to "fill the gaps" Canada helped to create. The Muskoka Initiative, launched during Canada’s G8 presidency in 2010, has committed US$7.3 billion (with $2.85 billion from Canada) to address maternal mortality and child health.During the current election campaign, the Prime Minister refers to it as an example of Canada’s leadership on the world … As in other national contexts, there was not a singular women’s movement in Canada as such; rather, a diverse range of activists who dedicated themselves to a wide array of political, social, economic, and cultural issues. This women's movement came from women's sense of urgency about disturbing changes in private life. Although the 2018 budget saw a … Other key issues garnered the time and attention of feminists beyond the vote. This early ac­tivism was fo­cused on in­creas­ing women's role in pub­lic life, with goals in­clud­ing women's suf­frage, in­creased prop­erty rights, in­creased ac­cess to ed­u­ca­tion, and recog­ni­tion as "per­sons" under the law. The first wave of fem­i­nism in Canada oc­curred in the late 19th and early 20th cen­turies. In suggesting that women needed to come into the public sphere to “clean up” politics, SC women demonstrated their ties to first wave feminism. Mrs. Willoughby Cummings (Emily McCausland Cummings), National Council of Women group at Rideau Hall, Next: 3.9 The Great War and the General Strike, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Politics and Conflict in Victorian and Edwardian Canada, 4.4 The Sunny Ways of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Chapter 5.      Keeping history alive for over 142 years, Search | Alongside and sometimes overlapping with the various social reform causes which emerged in the latter part of the part of the 19th century was the first wave of the Canadian feminist movement. While historians once identified the creation of the Toronto Women’s Literary Society in 1876 as marking the official origin of a women’s movement, more recent scholarship indicates that a variety of women and organizations were engaged in pursuits related to fair treatment and equal rights at least several decades earlier. For Canada's Indigenous Women, Feminism Is a Fight Against Sterilisation. Canadian History: Post-Confederation by Nancy M. Forestell, Department of History, St. Francis Xavier University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. First wave feminism in Canada played a major role in reforming family law to protect the rights of married women and ensure state responsibility to care for women deemed worthy of support, yet the overall „success‟ of reform efforts is questionable. It incorporates reform ideas from social feminism, and combines the concepts of maternalism and feminism. Page revised: 27 August 2009 [Return to Figure 3.41], More fully: first wave feminists. Maternal feminism reached its peak at a time when the British Empire was still expanding fast, but new ideas about women's suffrage, temperance, pacifism and socialism were in the air. Our efforts focus on: 1. promoting sexual and reproductive healthand rights, which are critical to saving lives and reducing poor health 2. One was premised on an equal rights ethos that women and men shared a common humanity, and hence, women should be able to attend university, gain access to selection occupations, vote, and etc. She believed that women were required in politics because of their natural maternal instincts. For queries on the above page, please contact the MHS Webmaster. Recent revelations of the coerced sterilization of Indigenous women in Canada are part of a long, complex and disturbing history -- in which feminism became a fight to keep one's own children. With the passage of the Wartime Elections Act in 1917, female relatives of Canadian soldiers were granted the vote. Social hierarchies of class, race, religion, and colonial status were at times questioned and contested during the first wave but far more they were unquestioned and re-affirmed. A feminist activist group formed in 1893; predominantly Anglo-Celtic Protestant women who mostly identified themselves as maternal feminists. They also specifically agitated as wives and mothers protesting high consumer prices. Maternal feminism is the term that has been used by scholars to describe the ideology that drove many of the leaders of the suffrage and temperance movements in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They were not the only ones of course, as francophone Catholic women who became part of the provincial group, the Fédération National Saint-Jean-Baptiste (FNSB), founded in 1907 also saw themselves as maternal feminists.[2]. As a maternal feminist, McClung believed that women should be involved in politics due to their natural maternal instincts and interests. Dr. J. Ellenwood at The Final Suffrage Mass Meeting in The Common Council Chamber City Hall. There were still other efforts to raise the moral tone of Canadian society primarily by Euro-Canadian middle-class women. Motherhood became more than a biological, but a social function, which, if re-invigorated, could serve as a buttress against destabilizing social forces. T… Dennison and Mr. Frank Dunham (Formerly of Colorado)—Also—The Liberty Loan Speaker Rev. Against the backdrop of World War I, this legislation granted the vote to the female relatives of Canadian soldiers, a large majority of whom were of British ancestry, and withheld the vote to any immigrant citizen from enemy countries who had been naturalized after 1902. One of the largest and most effective anti-drink lobbies in Canada. It was a widespread philosophy among well-to-do women in the British Empire, particularly Canada, from the late 19th century until after World War I (1914–18). This early iteration of Canadian feminism was largely based in maternal feminism: the idea that women are natural caregivers and "mothers of the nation" who should participate in public life because of their perceived propensity for decisions that will result in good care of society. Reflecting the maternal feminist belief in the importance of motherhood, In the context of feminism, the belief that rights accorded to men and women ought to be the same. For example, female immigrants from Iceland were supporters from early on, as were women originally from Finland, especially after their home country granted women in the vote in 1906. Social Credit Women, Maternal Feminism, and Female Advancement. Nov. 6th.” The flyer is printed by Century Printing Co., Broadway, Watervliet (in New York State). Canada Pledges $3.5 Billion for Maternal Health Programs Worldwide June 3, 2014 At a three-day international maternal health summit in Toronto last week, the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, announced that Canada has pledged $3.5 billion for programs aimed at improving maternal and newborn health in developing countries. In many instances, the arguments of maternal feminists had nativist overtones. 4 Maternal feminists gained much support from the general public through the conservative ideology of maternal feminism. This article examines the rise of maternal feminism and the concept of motherhood in the Prairie West from 1900 to 1930. Published in 1915, this book is a collection of speeches and essays drawn from McClung's career as a speaker for the Political Equality League, one of Manitoba's most prominent suffrage organizations. Advocates for women's rights in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; also sometimes called "maternal feminists.". The first wave of feminism in Canada occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These initiatives were accompanied by efforts to secure women’s property rights, the quest for higher education, and the formation of female-exclusive church organizations. Feminism, or the belief that women have been historically disadvantaged and this ought to change, inspires much engagement and action. Farm women lobbied for legislative changes which would allow them greater financial independence and power especially as related to homestead rights and dower laws. “The term ‘feminism’ was first used in Europe in the 1880s but few Canadian women active in the first wave would have identified as feminist.” In Canada, the word 'feminism' started popping up in the late 19th century, not long after a mother-and-daughter team set up the country’s first organization calling for women’s suffrage. As with a number of other women’s reform groups at the time, the WCTU did not view the attainment of female suffrage as the primary goal in and of itself, but rather as a means to achieve greater political influence for social improvement. The other emphasized women’s differences from men, and in particular that their near universal role as mothers specially equipped them to participate in a wide range of reform and political campaigns. Communities | It remains unclear the extent to which Black and White female abolitionists were able to easily or consistently overcome the racial divide, but there is a record of mixed race attendance at lectures on anti-slavery and women’s rights as well as mutual support for integrated education in the 1850s and 1860s. One of the central issues of the first wave was the struggle for female suffrage which involved a protracted campaign with feminist activists laying claim to full political citizenship. Working-class women, on occasion in concert with middle-class allies, attempted to oppose the inequities of industrial capitalism and inequities within the labour movement. Nonetheless, those who came to predominate among the mainstream women’s organizations, namely middle-class Anglo-Celtic Protestant women, most closely identified with maternal feminism. Reform Movements from the 1870s to the 1980s, 7.4 Families and Property Rights in Canada, 8.8 The Shipping Industry in Canada, 1867 – 1945, 9.13 Cold War Society: Cities and Suburbs, 10.6 Religion And Irreligion In The Postwar World, 10.9 Historicizing Childhood: The Changing Fortunes of Children and Youth in Canada, 10.11 Historical Experiences of Adolescence at Mid-century, 10.16 Sport and Leisure in Post-Confederation Canada, Chapter 11. 1947) said, "Women themselves, like virtually everyone else in Canadian society, identified their sex with a maternal role. Diverges somewhat from maternal feminism which claims rights based on gendered differences. In 1891 Annie Parker, the Superintendent of Franchise for the Dominion `First Wave' Feminism in Canada 591 Women's Enfranchisement Association, likened the family and home to a'miniature state', a matriarchy ordered by God (Parker, 1890). At the federal level, decades of struggle resulted in the achievement of a partial franchise with the passage of the Wartime Elections Act in 1917. These feminists were not alone in this battle, but far more than others, they raised concerns particular to the situation of women and with a view to altering existing gender relations through the attainment of a single moral standard. Founded in 1907, francophone Catholic women activists who also saw themselves as maternal feminists. At a 1912 rally, Nellie McClung declared that over fifty per cent of Canada’s problems required women’s voices to help create a balance between masculine and … Although the suffrage campaign was dominated for the most part by Anglo-Celtic bourgeois reformers, other groups of women participated. A See also homestead rights. This article examines the rise of maternal feminism and the concept of motherhood in the Prairie West from 1900 to 1930. POV | The Clifford Sifton Years, 1896–1905, 5.10 Female Immigrants and the Canadian State, 1860s through the 20th century, 6.7 The Natural Governing Party: The King Years, 6.12 Status Indians and Military Service in the World Wars, 6.16 Enlisted Women, Conscription, and the Zombie Army, 6.17 Japanese Canadians in the Second World War, Chapter 7.

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