Women's Rights

Women Rights
No Rights? Are You Kidding Me? In the early 1900s, women barely had any kind of rights. There were many laws that prevented us from doing anything. For one thing, women were EXPECTED to stay at home and take care of the cooking and cleaning. Women were also considered as the “property” of men once they got married.
They couldn’t do anything without the permission of their husband. Women couldn’t sign any contracts, and so they wouldn’t be able to start any businesses without their husbands. Women didn’t even have any property or inheritance rights once they got married, so they couldn’t own any kind of land, couldn’t keep any kind of money, and they didn’t even have legal custody rights for their children, the father had ALL the rights. The worst part of it all? Well, we didn’t even have the right to take our husband to court if they abused us! So basically, they can just hit and slap us all they want, and we couldn’t do anything, at all. Basically, at that time, it was die alone, or have no rights or respect for the rest of your life.

We ARE People! In the 1900s, a woman wasn’t even considered a person! Since they weren’t considered as people, they didn’t get a single say in politics of anything else. One of the main focuses for women was the right to vote. They didn’t get this right for a long time. The Valiant Five, which was a group of women, were the people who helped women be recognized as people. In 1927, they went to the Supreme Court of Canada, and asked them if women were persons. After many weeks of debates and disagreements, the Supreme Court of Canada decided that the definition of “person” did NOT include women in any way. The Valiant Five wouldn’t accept this and so they took the Persons Case to the highest court of Canada, The Privy Court, in England. They worked hard, and so on October 18, 1929; the Privy Court had announced that women were indeed persons. This was a HUGE milestone in women history.

Women’s Rights Movement After being treated unfairly for many years, women still didn’t give up on their quest for respect and equality. They were very determined, hence their many organizations. These groups arranged many protests, riots, and seminars. They caused lots of problems for the government and authorities, but they never once gave up. One of these wonderful organizations was the Women’s Rights Movement. They changed society for women, for the better. With the help of the Women’s Rights Movement, and many years of hard work and devotion, women finally got the respect and rights that they deserved. The Women’s Rights Movement passed many laws throughout the country stating that women should be able to own at least half of their husband’s land. Many provinces agreed, and so they announced that women are entitled to part of their husband’s land. This gave many women confidence because it showed that they didn’t need a husband to depend on to be able to do things.

Give Us A Chance! In the 1990s, no one would hire women to work for them. In that time, everyone thought that the only job for a woman was to be a wife and mother. They thought that women were only meant for that, and nothing else. However, women did get jobs, but only the jobs that men didn’t want, so if the employer was really desperate, and even if they did get a job, they would get a LOWER salary than a man who would be doing the same exact job as them. Many women had to turn to prostitution to survive. Many employers would also bring up the fact that women didn’t have a great education. However, that wasn’t their fault at all. In that time, women would only be allowed to stay in school until the age of 12. The only girls that were permitted to take their education higher than that age were the wealthy ones. Want to know the stupidest thing ever? Many doctors claimed that a woman’s health would be damaged if they had a higher education! Can you believe that?

So You’re Just Going To Fire Us Now That They’re Back? During the World War I, the women worked in the factories to keep them going while the men went off to fight. They did all the things that men did, and what they wouldn’t have been able to do while they were there. That should have showed the employers that women CAN do whatever men can do, but as soon as the men came back from the war, the women were all let go so the men could have jobs. I don’t get how that’s fair! After all the hard work that the women did while the men were gone! After all they did for the employers! How can they just fire them because the men were back? However, this made women be more determined to get rights. They wanted equality, and the right to work. They shouldn’t have been fired just because they were women. They did just prove that they can do what men can do.

We Deserve A Say! The right to vote was the main focus for the Women’s Rights Movement. It took many years to get all of Canada on board with the idea, 1917-1940, but all the hard work and devotion paid off, and now women all across Canada have the right to vote! The Toronto Women’s Literary Club, which was formed by Emily Stowe in 1876, was the first Canadian group to protest to try to get women the right to vote. Then finally, on June 19, 1917, the House of Commons finally voted to accept the bill. The women who were a part of the suffrage were surprised by the amount of support given to them by the ALL-male Commons. Some say that the Commons voted for the women’s suffrage because they were thankful for all the work women had done while the men were at war. However, many others have said that the amount of work that the women had done was over stated because in France, the women did the same amount of work, but didn’t get a suffrage for a long time.

AFTER LEARNING SO MUCH ABOUT THE HISTORY OF WOMEN, AND HOW HARD THEY WORKED SO WE COULD GET EQUALITY, RIGHTS AND RESPECT, I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE PROUD TO BE A FEMALE. I AM SO APPRECIATIVE FOR ALL THOSE WOMEN WHO FOUGHT FOR ALL OF US. I KNOW THAT THERE ARE STILL MANY PEOPLE TODAY, WHO DISCRIMINATE WOMEN, BUT I ALSO KNOW THAT US FEMALES ARE STRONG AND WE CAN FIGHT FOR OURSELVES, AND FINISH UP WHAT THE OTHERS STARTED. WE CAN STOP THIS GENDER DISCRIMINATION BECAUSE WE DESERVE EQUALIITY, AND WE’RE GOING TO GET IT!

Bibliography for Information * Canada: The Story of A Developing Nation Grade 8 History Textbook * http://socyberty.com/history/the-womens-rights-movement-in-the-1920s/ * http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/world_war_one_and_women.htm * http://www.warandgender.com/forums/WarGen/posts/515.html

Bibliography for Pictures * http://www.choosingraw.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/womensrights.gif * http://myhero.com/images/guest/g189562/hero42988/g189562_u47597_famous5.jpg * http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/mnpeach/womens_rights_logo-1.jpg * http://rebelgrrrl.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/feminist.jpg * http://www.fromthevaultradio.org/home/wp-content/images/FTV084_Feminist%20Journer/feminist%20journerys%2001%20women 's%20day%20b-w%20march.jpg * http://www.psea.org/uploadedImages/HomePage/Rosie.jpg * http://img.tfd.com/wn/B9/65485-unfairness.gif * http://www.congressforkids.net/images/unclesam_women.gif * http://mbonillo.xavierre.com/httpdocs/exercises/imageshp/USelections/women-rights.jpg

Bibliography: for Pictures * http://www.choosingraw.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/womensrights.gif * http://myhero.com/images/guest/g189562/hero42988/g189562_u47597_famous5.jpg * http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/mnpeach/womens_rights_logo-1.jpg * http://rebelgrrrl.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/feminist.jpg * http://www.fromthevaultradio.org/home/wp-content/images/FTV084_Feminist%20Journer/feminist%20journerys%2001%20women 's%20day%20b-w%20march.jpg * http://www.psea.org/uploadedImages/HomePage/Rosie.jpg * http://img.tfd.com/wn/B9/65485-unfairness.gif * http://www.congressforkids.net/images/unclesam_women.gif * http://mbonillo.xavierre.com/httpdocs/exercises/imageshp/USelections/women-rights.jpg