Women's rights in Canada

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The history of women's rights in Canada has been a gradual struggle aimed at establishing equal rights.



Contents

[edit] Women ruled legally to be "persons"

Main article: Persons Case

In 1927, five women from Alberta petitioned the Supreme Court to decide whether women were included in the definition of the word "persons" as used in the British North America Act (Canada's de facto constitution at the time). Hinging on this decision was whether women could be appointed to the Senate or not -- the body which approved divorces among other decisions important to women. The Supreme Court, interpreting the Act in light of the times in which it was written, ruled in 1928 that no, women were not "persons" and could not be elected.

The five women, led by Emily Murphy, appealed the case to the Judicial Committee of England's Privy Council. In 1929, the five Lords of the Committee ruled unanimously that "the word ‘persons' in Section 24 includes both the male and female sex.…" They called the earlier interpretation "a relic of days more barbarous than ours." [1]

[edit] Royal Commission on the Status of Women, 1970

Main article: Royal Commission on the Status of Women

[edit] National Action Committee on the Status of Women

The National Action Committee (NAC) was formed as a result of the frustration of women at the inaction of the federal government in regards to the recommendations of the Royal Commission. Beginning in 1972 as a coalition of 23 women's groups, by 1986 it had 350 organizational members, including the women's caucuses of the three biggest political parties. Partly funded by government grants, the NAC was widely regarded as the official expression of women's interests in Canada, and received a lot of attention from the media. In 1984 there was a televised debate on women's issues among the leaders of the contending political parties during the federal election campaign. The NAC and women's issues were receiving a lot of attention and the NAC was rapidly growing, although beginning in 1983 it had competition from REAL Women of Canada, a right-wing lobby group.[2]

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[edit] The Charter of Rights and Freedoms

After a hard struggle, women's groups managed to have equality of the sexes included in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which was part of the Canadian Constitution established in 1982. [3]

[edit] Abortion

In the R. v. Morgentaler case in 1988, Canada's abortion law was struck down by the Supreme Court using the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Bertha Wilson, the first woman on the Supreme Court, had been appointed in 1982.[4] [5] Section 287 of the Criminal Code states that abortion is a crime. However, section 7 of the Charter says "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice." Henry Morgentaler, who was trying to establish abortion clinics, forced the courts to rule on this issue, and in 1988 the Supreme Court ruled that section 287 of the Criminal Code was of no force or effect. [6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Famous Five: The "Persons" Case, 1927-1929. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved on 2008-02-03.
  2. ^ Wine, Jeri Dawn; Janice Lynn Ristock (1991). Women and Social Change: Feminist Activism in Canada. James Lorimer and Company, 101. ISBN ISBN 1550283561. 
  3. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Historica
  4. ^ TheStar.com | News | Bertha Wilson, 83: First female Supreme Court justice
  5. ^ Supreme Court of Canada - Bertha Wilson
  6. ^ Duhaime, Lloyd (2006-10-20). Abortion law in Canada. Duhaime.org. Retrieved on 2008-03-13. “The issue came to a judicial head in 1988, when the Supreme Court ruled that section 287 of the Code offended section 7 of the Charter, and that the former was therefore of no force or effect (1 SCR 30).”

[edit] See also