CEVRO Institute MASTER´S THESIS Bc. Anita Culíková Prague, 2019 CEVRO Institute THE DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN´S VOTING RIGHTS IN CANADA Bc. Anita Culíková PPE - Philosophy, Politics, Economics Thesis Advisor: PhDr. Petr Sokol, Ph.D. Master´s Thesis Prague, 2019 I would like to thank my mentor PhDr. Petr Sokol, Ph.D. for his professional attitude; patience and willingness to help, and Prof. Joan Sangster for advice which helped evaluate this diploma thesis. Abstract This thesis focuses on the development of women's voting rights in Canada, suffrage organizations and associations, and within that the concept of women as a person under the law. The thesis includes the franchise of women; newcomers legally regarded as Canadians and Indigenous peoples. It explains the expanse of feminism and liberal ideas within liberal feminism that included women´s voting rights, and economics and politics of women´s rights. The history of suffrage in Canada includes the provincial and federal development in Canada with a unique extension of the case of Quebec. Women's voting rights and its enlargement have encountered several problems such as ignorance, religion, racism, and the act that has not included women among persons. The work relates directly to these issues. Keywords: women in Canada, suffrage in Canada, feminism, economics and politics of suffrage, Canada, political rights, Indigenous peoples, person case, voting rights, Obsah LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................. 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 2 1 Feminism ......................................................................................................... 5 1.1 Modern Western History of Feminism ..................................................... 6 1.1.1 First Wave of Feminism .................................................................... 7 1.1.2 Second Wave of Feminism ................................................................ 8 1.2 A Classification of Feminist Theories ..................................................... 10 1.2.1 Gender Reform Feminism ............................................................... 11 1.2.2 Gender Resistance Feminism ........................................................... 14 1.2.3 Gender Rebellion Feminism ............................................................ 15 1.3 The Positive Influence of Feminism in Society ...................................... 16 2 The Economics and Politics of Women´s Rights .......................................... 18 2.1 The Political Development of Expanding Women´s Rights ................... 18 2.2 The Economics of Suffrage ..................................................................... 23 2.2.1 Different Voting Preferences ........................................................... 24 2.3 Quotas for Female Politicians ................................................................. 25 2.3.1 The Advantages and Disadvantages of Electoral Quotas ................ 26 3 History of Suffrage in Canada ....................................................................... 27 3.1 English-Canadian Suffragists Society ..................................................... 28 3.2 The Struggle before Suffrage Movement ................................................ 31 3.3 The First Wave of Feminism in Canada ................................................. 34 3.3.1 The Impact of the Woman´s Christian Temperance Union ............. 37 3.3.2 The First Women´s Suffrage Club Organizations in Canada .......... 39 3.3.3 Raising Women´s Suffrage and the National Council of Women ... 41 3.3.4 Women and the Voting Rights in the Pre-War during War-time .... 45 3.3.5 The Universal Franchise .................................................................. 54 3.4 The First Federal Election ....................................................................... 56 3.5 Voting Rights in the Last Provinces ........................................................ 57 3.5.1 Women´s Suffrage in Atlantic ......................................................... 58 4 The Case Edward v Canada ........................................................................... 62 4.1 The Background of the Case ................................................................... 62 4.2 Famous 5 ................................................................................................. 65 4.3 The Path of the Struggle for Legislative Change .................................... 67 5 The Suffrage Movement in Quebec ............................................................... 71 5.1 The Women´s Position before the Dominion Election Act .................... 72 5.2 Women´s Suffrage in Quebec after Federation Franchise ...................... 75 6 The Franchise of Indigenous Peoples ............................................................ 80 6.1 The Legislative Recognitions of Aboriginal Peoples .............................. 80 6.1.1 The Indian Act ................................................................................. 81 6.1.2 The Legislative Changes after Franchise ......................................... 82 6.2 Aboriginal Peoples and the Franchise ..................................................... 84 6.2.1 Background of Following Events .................................................... 84 6.2.2 Provincial Enfranchise ..................................................................... 89 6.3 Rights of Aboriginal Women .................................................................. 89 7 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 92 References .............................................................................................................. 96 Books and Publications ...................................................................................... 96 Website Reference List ...................................................................................... 98 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BNA Act British North America Act of 1867 CWSA Canadian Women´s Suffrage Association FNSJB Fédération nationale Saint-Jean-Baptiste MLA Master of Liberal Arts NCWC National Council of Women of Canada PEI Prince Edward Island PEL Political Equality League UN United Nations WCTU Woman's Christian Temperance Union 1 INTRODUCTION Voting rights are part of the broad universal rights of citizenship, which meets the conditions for participation. In today's world, the western countries present the elemental model of participation in elections within equal voting rights between sexes. However, the conditions for their fulfilment were multiple occasions discriminated against gender. The advantages of civilization and culture of individual states eliminated these barriers and gradually achieved a legally fair society in which everyone has equal opportunities in public participation. Canada belongs to the former western state with significant democratic values which were not always presented during the development of liberal society within a constitutional monarchy. Canada is one of the states of the former French and British colonies that later joined the British Empire. Canada political system belongs to a nation with a political form of a constitutional monarchy headed by Elizabeth II, Queen of Great Britain, represented by the Governor-General. Canada is also a representative parliamentary democracy with a federal structure and strong democratic traditions represented by its provinces. The Canadian Parliament is constituted by two chambers, the representatives of the Parliament, the House of Commons, and the appointed Senate. The majority electoral system elects each member of the House of Commons. The Governor- General issues general Elections at the request of the Prime Minister. Members of the Senate, whose seats are allocated on a regional basis, are selected by the Prime Minister and formally appointed by the Governor-General. 2 Canada is composed of ten provinces and three territories. The provinces are responsible for most of the welfare social programs in Canada (health care, Canada's education system) and collectively concentrate more funds than the federal government. The level of financial and autonomous sovereignty is very high within the provinces. The federal government and its administration initiatives interfering with the governments of the provinces, but cannot persuade law due to the high autonomy of the provinces. At the same time, every province has a Lieutenant- Governor who represents the Crown and is the Governor-General's parallel at the federal level. This whole position of political representation in Canada has also resulted in several years of effort from citizens of individual provinces to grant voting rights. In this conflict and struggle, the initial Liberal Feminism, which combines with nationalism and maternal feminism in Canada, and is the power of it, plays a significant role. The drive in the struggle for the suffrage recognizes the essence of women mainly as mothers. However, based on maternal feminism, along with liberal values, Canadian society is also pursuing a nationalism that combines only Canadian society, which generates conflict between races. The research tries to understand and answer the critical questions of suffrage; how far and how the Canadian Society has gone through to acquire women's voting rights, including the Indigenous Peoples. Were the