Kim Campbell - First Female Prime Minister Essays

Being born in Barbados in 1943 has given Senator Anne Clare Cools, a cultural background which she has retained even when she moved to Montreal at the age of 13. Cools was introduced to politics at an early age with both of her parents being involved in the government. Her father, Lucius Cools, ran for the Barbados Labour Party in 1938 while her mother was a small plantation owner. As a young adult, she attended McGill University studying sociology and psychology. Furthermore, in 2004, she was named one of the top 100 greatest Canadians of all time and one of the top 20 greatest Canadian women of all time.

Since the 19th Century, women in Canada have fought political, legal, and social battles to find their place in Canadian society. From starting out in small, local organizations, to legal battles in the Supreme Court, Canadian women have come a long way. Unfortunately, it took a long time for many people to adapt to the changing roles of women, which made women still feel unequal compared to men. It is really striking to think that at one point society questioned if women could even be considered persons, just a small sample of the many changes women had to face through the course of history. This paper will analyze these changes experienced by Canadian women in that time period and how it affected their everyday lives.

The first reason that shows that Canada has become a “just society” is the changes to women’s legal rights. Since the 1970s, many women have stepped up to the work of politics. Several instances include Kim Campbell, the first woman to become the prime minister of Canada,1 Kathleen Wynne, the first premier of Canada to be lesbian,2 Beverley McLachlin, the “first female chief of justice of the Supreme Court of Canada,”3 and Catherine Callbeck, the second female provincial premiere and first woman to win

The classification of what a "person" was in the eyes of the government became a threshold test of women's equality. The Person’s Case has continued to empower women all across Canada for the past 88 years and has brought inspiration to Canadian citizens to fight for social economic equality for women. The impacts the Persons Case have had on Canada keep growing, a recent example of this is in 2015 Prime Minister Trudeau decided to form Canada's 1st gender-balanced cabinet. The cabinet ministers include 15 women and 15 men. Many of the female ministers have been key roles such as, formal journalist Chrystie Freeland has been put in charge of international trade. This decision reflects Canada’s

What was the most underrepresented social group in the elected assemblies of the world? whether is the minority ethnic, religious groups or the poor? According to Putman’s statistic, the answer was “women”. (Putnam 1976 cited in Megyery 1991) Statistics have shown that although women around the globe occupy more than one half of the population, very small proportion become political elite. Different from what women have encountered, man tends to dominate many spheres in life which includes electoral politics. Such gender disparity happens everywhere not just in Canada. Ever since Canadian women suffrage and the right to candidacy was achieved, they have made a couple strides in political arena, yet not as many as they wish with the existence of electoral glass ceiling standing

Former prime minister of Great Britain, Margaret Thatcher, in her eulogy, describes the strides that Ronald Reagan accomplished. Thatcher’s purpose is to honor Ronald Reagan during his time as a former United States of America President. She establishes a genuine tone in order to appeal to the grief and mournings of American citizens.

injustices she saw in the world, she began to work her law degree to create a platform for her

From February 23, 1990, to January 3, 1993, Kim Campbell served as Canada's first female attorney general(Encyclopedia Britannica). In 1992 Kim introduced Bill C-17 which talked about gun safety and storage and tighter restrictions. “ There are certain things in gun control that have a certain public appeal, but when you're legislating you need to look at the research on what works, what doesn't, and what really has an impact, recognizing you're never going to do away entirely with gun violence “(http://www.azquotes.com) Unfortunately, this movement did not go so well with the Conservative party and did not get very far. From January 4, 1993, to June 24, 1993, Kim Campbell served as Canada's first female Minister of National Defense.(The Prime Ministers of Canada T. Martin) She went to a NATO meeting for defence ministers that had many ministers from the previous Warsaw Pact nations. She had a good team working with her while in this

Sandra Day O 'Connor was the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. A Republican, she was considered a moderate conservative and served for 24 years. Born on March 26, 1930, in El Paso, Texas, Sandra Day O 'Connor spent part of her youth on her family 's Arizona ranch. She graduated from Stanford University in 1950 with a bachelor’s degree in economics, O’Connor attended the university’s law school and received her degree in 1952, graduating third in her class. As opportunities for women lawyers were limited at the time she had to work without pay at a county attorney in California San Mateo region. From 1954-57, O 'Connor moved overseas and served as a civilian lawyer for the Quartermaster Masker Center in Frankfurt, Germany. She returned home in 1958 and settled in Arizona. There she worked at a private practice before returning to public service, acting as the state 's assistant attorney general from 1965-69. In 1969, O 'Connor

Throughout this course, we learn that women’s studies originated as a concerned at the time that “women and men noticed the absence, misrepresentation, and trivialization of women [in addition to] the ways women were systematically excluded from many positions of power and authority” (Shaw, Lee 1). It has always been known that in the past, men have had more privilege than women. Women have battled for centuries against certain patterns of inadequacy that all women experience. Every culture and customs have divergent female identities, however this does not hinder the fact that many of these cultures are based on patriarchal past where men hold more rights than women. Canadian women have sought to overcome these stereotypes and have managed to gain a position of near equality. This was

Sandra Day O’Connor was born in El Paso, Texas in 1930. Her parents owned a cattle ranch in Southeastern Arizona. She went to school in El Paso while she lived with her grandmother. O’Connor graduated high school at the age of sixteen. In 1946, O’Connor was accepted into Stanford. She earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and a law degree. O’Connor graduated third in her class at Stanford. O’Connor tried to become a lawyer in Los Angeles and San Francisco law firms but could not because she was a woman. Instead, she was offered a job as a legal secretary ("Sandra Day O'Connor Biography”). It was very difficult for O’Connor to find a job because she was a woman (Beard). She became a county attorney in California and married John O’Connor. They moved to Germany and her husband was an attorney for the U. S. Army. O’Connor was a civilian attorney. When they

Gender inequality has been a long part of Canada’s history with men being the dominant decision makers. Women have had to fight long hard battles and overcome numerous obstacles to prove themselves and demonstrate that they are equal to men and not inferior. Over the course of a century women have achieved suffrage and have become increasingly visible in the political and economic sectors. Despite all the achievements women have made barriers remain in effect leaving women at a social, economic and political disadvantage even in the twenty-first century. The primary obstacles in achieving gender equality are the noticeable absence of women in authoritative economic and political positions, unfair social stereotypes that are still

Our society has the belief that women have always been portrayed as weak, emotional, and powerless. Throughout this article by Tavia Grant, it shows how women do not get the same opportunities men receive. Statistically shown, women are still earning less money than men regardless to the amount of education they possess (Grant). Women are accepted to hold obligations regarding family tasks while the men do the providing in the family. The article shows the disadvantages women have in Canada compared to men, however, it also shows gender inequality and gender discrimination.

Throughout history, Canada’s identity has changed in many ways and there have been many historical events that have greatly shaped and impacted Canada’s history and identity. The Women’s Movement and women’s contribution in the past and throughout history has had the greatest impact on shaping Canada into what it is today. Among many identifying qualities like being multicultural, bilingual, and world leaders, Canada is also country that has changed immensely in the way of becoming a country that has learned to accept women, move towards providing them with equal opportunities and treating them equally. Through economic, social and political movements and actions, the contribution from women and the women’s movement have increased, changed and improved women’s rights and equality greatly. Women worked to create independence and equality economically through their contributions to war on the homefront in WWI resulting in greater workplace equality, socially through the actions of the Flappers in the 1920’s giving women currently, the confidence and strength that they need to speak up, and politically, through the work of the Suffragists including the Famous 5 to allow women to have the same political rights as men.

Women being able to vote was a huge step forward for Canadian women, but even though they could run for certain political positions, they could not be Senators. During the early twentieth century women were not legally considered “persons” and could not be Senators (Women become Persons). This act of exclusion portrayed Canada as an immature nation. A milestone with significant importance occurred in the Persons Case. The first constitution of Canada was the BNA Act (British North America Act). In this constitution it referred to a group of people as “persons” but when one individual was referenced they used the word ‘he”. The constitution restricted women from holding public office. (History Canadian resources book) The act declared that “women are persons in matters of pain and penalties, but are not persons in matters of rights and privileges.” Therefore, women could be given the same penalties as men for breaking a law, but could not receive the same basic benefits that men could. Unfair legalities like this proves that Canada was