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Women's Suffrage In Canada

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In the past century, there has been a dramatic change in how the world views women and their roles in society. Specifically, how life for Canadian women has changed and how women from different cultures and countries each face unique problems in being respected and treated as equal members of society. Women have gone from being valued only as housewives in the fifties to CEOs in modern times. This is a remarkable achievement which should have come sooner. Although, even in today’s society women are still subjected to unfair and unjustified prejudice, stereotyping, sexism and conservative old fashioned gender role ideas. Women were believed to be passive and weak which is a complete contrast to how most of the world views women today. When compared …show more content…
From the beginning of time and up until 1918 in Canada, women weren’t allowed by law to vote. This was due to many believing that women were not equal to men, were intellectually inferior to men and that they should not have involvement in politics. As time went on women began to oppose the unfair and unjust treatment towards having no right or say in how the country was run. This is when the suffrage movement was born. The suffrage movement is defined as “the fight for the right of women to vote and run for office” ("Women’s Suffrage Movement", n.d.). After much conflict and opposition, women had won the right to vote and stand for election to the House of Commons in 1918. Women receiving the right to vote allowed them to have more involvement in politics and their society.
By women achieving the right to vote in Canada it allowed women for the first time in Canadian history, to be appointed as senates and other positions of authority in politics and the running of the country. And on June 25, 1993, Kim Campbell won the vote as Canada’s ninetieth Prime Minister and the first women to be elected as Prime Minister. Campbell was a spokesperson for women’s health in Canada and supported the increase of abortion services available to Women and highlighted the need to reaffirm rights of sexual assault victims ("Kim Campbell: …show more content…
Over many decades, the idea of the “ideal woman” was debated. Over time, this concept has changed and evolved due to changes in style, fashion, and the media. In the 1950’s the ideal women was a woman who cared for the house and her family, in simple terms the perfect housewife. As a result of world war II women took over the jobs that the men left when they went off to war. During this time, women were encouraged to stand up and fight for their country in addition to raising a family and providing for the household while the men were away at war. Although, when the men came back from war they wanted their jobs back. This created conflict as this was the first major time in history that women were encouraged to get a job and provide for their families. Due to the men returning from war, many women lost their sense of power. Many women were essentially removed from the public life they built up for themselves and were expected to go back to their homes and raise the

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