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Women's Suffrage In Canada

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WWI was consequently a catalyst for change in the role and status for women. During the war women were introduced to new opportunities in the workforce due to the shortage of men that a nation’s economy suffered from both during and after the war had ended. The war enabled women to present themselves in a new light to the public through proving capable with their contributed work in WWI. After World War I commenced, millions of men were deployed to serve in the war therefore causing women to become essential in trying to retain a nation’s economy through their needed labour. Therefore, campaigns and recruitment drives were advertised to sponsor a nation’s need for women’s employment especially to meet the high demands of supplying the wars …show more content…

Women suffrages advocated for overall women’s rights but more primarily was the right to vote and run for office. In Canada 1915, “the Political Equality League presented the new Liberal Government with a formal petition for the enfranchisement of women.” ("Women's rights during WW1 in Canada.”) However, it failed to pass in any province until “early 1919 the right to vote was extended to all women in Canada through the Act of to confer the Electoral Franchise Upon Women.” ("Women's rights during WW1 in Canada.”) Additionally, due to the consequential gap in workers that the War had caused, women were required to work. However, the women were faced with labour issues usually caused by unequal pay or their exposure to hazardous chemicals in munitions factories that would commonly discolor their skin yellow. Therefore, “the Department of Labour created the Women of Industry Service (WIS) in the United States 1918” ("Women in Industry Service." St. James Encyclopedia of Labor History Worldwide: Major Events in Labor History and Their Impact. Encyclopedia.com, n.d. Web. 14 May 2017) which helped address the labour issues women endured. “The cooperative- based bureau was run by women” which succeeded in “bringing governmental attention to the rights of women labour” and later in 1920 “congress granted the bureau permanent status through public law.” ("Women in Industry Service.") Through the war, women learned many new skills through their new responsibilities which therefore implemented independence in most women during WWI, causing the increased support for new policies to be established in a nation advocating women’s

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