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The Fight For The Equality Of Women

Decent Essays

While the fight for the equality of women in Canadian society is one that still persists, had it not been for the early 20th century, women would not have the fundamental rights that they do today. Before the outbreak of WW1, Canadian women faced a number of unfortunate realities. Not only were their gender roles strictly bound to domestic services and household work, women were also viewed as men’s property that could not defy the ideas of their husbands, and were denied the right to make political decisions. During the period of 1914-1929, the rights of women in Canadian society advanced as economical, social and political pressure grew. This advancement was induced by the initiatives taken and opportunities given to women on the home …show more content…

This was a big step into independence for women because before WW1, a woman was dependent on her father, husband or children for money. Women faced many harsh political and legal realities prior to The Great War that made it nearly impossible for them to be dependent on themselves.
“A woman surrendered all property rights to her husband when she married, and many widows were not provided for in their husband’s wills. Money and property were passed directly to the male children, and their mother became dependent on them. Women were barred by law from homesteading and on the death of a homesteader, his widow lost all rights to the land and it reverted to the government“ (Coomber, Jan and Rosemary
Evans, 6)
These limits remained true up until women started making their own money; which was only possible once they were allowed in the workplace. Many argue that this was no advancement as women had taken on undomestic jobs before the WW1 started, but it was not until the vast majority of women began working, did the movement for equal pay begin. This can be seen as a domino effect as one thing led to another, and how one small step into a workplace reserved for men, became the stepping stone towards the female CEO’s and engineers that we have in society today. However, women’s rights in the workplace were not gained merely out of economic desperation. It was the tremendous contributions made to

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