Daily lives of women

As a girl growing up in the 1800s, you would be responsible for helping your mother with what she did; cleaning, cooking, taking care of the children, sewing and laundry, and tending to the garden. Because school was almost never available to girls at the time, you would grow up doing those things, get married and move into your own house, and continue doing those things there. The slight difference to your life would be that everything in your possession would become owned by your husband as opposed to your father. 

What were the laws against women, how were they different from the men’s?

During the early 1800s, there were many laws preventing women from leading the same life a man could. Women could not vote, or have any role or say in the government, they were not given the right to advanced education that men were, could not gain custody of their own children if they divorced their husband, and they were not legally considered persons. As well, if a married woman wanted to sell property or engage in any form of business, she first had to gain her husband’s permission. 

Why were these laws in place?

For a long time, there was a general consensus amongst the public, excluding some women, that only white men should have the right to rule and have a full citizenship. Despite the fact that so many people believed this, there is no actual explanation to this, aside from the fact that they may have been following what happened in England, France or other European countries they may have come from. 

The evolution of women’s rights

By the late 19th century, almost nobody had ever protested or questioned the laws women faced. But in 1876, Dr. Emily Howard Stone founded the Toronto Women’s Literary Club (TWLC) which was dedicated towards a higher education for women, raising and maintaining the physical well being of women, and improving working conditions for women. The leaders of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), the biggest women’s group in Canada, had a large role in preventing violence towards women and children. There were also a “suffrage campaign” which was started and led by young female professors and university students. By 1900, suffragists had gained property-owning women the right to vote in municipal elections. In Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, women were allowed to vote in 1916, with Ontario and BC allowing women to vote the following year. For Quebec, however, women were not granted their right to vote until 1940. It wasn’t until 1929 that women were legally known as “persons” under Canadian law.