It can be said that women have been involved in politics as early as ancient times if politics were to be defined as “the struggle to control or influence the decision-making processes in a community, group, or society” (WOMN1005EL 10 Unit 16 256). Even then, women were able to influence rulers in their capacities as mistresses, mothers, or wives, or were rulers themselves. Throughout history, women have been able to hold positions of power such as prime ministers, judges, or ambassadors. However, most of these women were part of the elite. In general, however, women were not included in the political decision-making process.
It was the women’s movement that started the initiative to call for a wider participation for women in the political process, although the women’s movement had already been involved in political activities such as participation in protest actions, court filings, media campaigns, grassroots organizing and mobilizing, and lobbying.
Women’s Participation in Canadian Politics
The Toronto Women’s Literary Club was “the first women’s suffrage society in Canada” (WOMN1005EL 10 Unit 16 257), which was founded by Dr. Emily Stowe in 1876. Aside from the obstacles posed by the government, particularly by the return of the right to vote to the provincial council in 1898, women’s groups were also divided in this initiative. For example, the National Council of Women rejected suffrage motions for many years (WOMN1005EL 10 Unit 16 257), and although the motion that endorsed women’s suffrage was finally passed in 1910, the number of votes that favored it was not overwhelming, which meant that the issue was still far from being settled.
Manitoba was the first province where women were granted the right to vote, due mainly to the efforts of the Political Equality League. In 1917, nurses who served overseas were granted the right to vote through the Military Voters Act of 1917. The Wartime Elections Act later extended the right to the daughters, sisters, mothers, widows, and wives of men who were serving or who served in the British or Canadian military. It should be noted, however, that these women were granted the right to vote mainly due to efforts of the Borden government to obtain their support. In 1918, white women who were at least 21 years old were given the right to vote in federal elections, but other racial groups were granted this right only in the years from 1947 to 1960.
Although the granting of women’s right to vote saw women being appointed and voted into government positions, another problem surfaced, as was brought up in the Person’s Case in 1916. The appointment of Emily Murphy, a well-known activist, as the first female judge was questioned, with the claim that the law regarded only men as persons when it came to the appointment of judges. The same problem occurred in 1921 when the Montreal Women’s Club proposed the appointment of Emily Murphy to the Senate. It was reiterated that “the constitutional meaning of the word person” (WOMN1005EL 10 Unit 16 259) did not include women. Murphy and other women continued to rally for this cause and in 1929, the Privy Council of Britain finally ruled that women be considered persons (WOMN1005EL 10 Unit 16 260).
Still, even after being granted the right, women in office were still greatly outnumbered by men, and research has shown that some of the obstacles that hindered women’s participation in politics are the structural barriers, the situational constraints, and gender socialization (WOMN1005EL 10 Unit 16 264).
Gender socialization refers to women’s subordinate status in the society, which means that the stereotyped behavior of women is not considered appropriate for political activities and behavior. For example, there’s the expectation that women are much less ambitious, aggressive, and competitive than men – qualities that society considers as necessary for politicians; therefore, making women unqualified to become politicians. Female politicians were labeled as either unfeminine, overly aggressive, and pushy or a poor leader who’s not aggressive enough, weak, indecisive, and unexciting.
In the same manner, situational constraints refer to the conflict between women’s traditional responsibilities as the caregiver of the family and home and their responsibilities as a public servant. There is the expectation that women who run for office should not neglect their domestic duties lest they be subjected to societal disapproval. This fear, together with the guilt of sacrificing their family responsibilities, makes women hesitate in running for office. Unlike men who do not have to choose between their public and domestic responsibilities, women have to divide their time between their family and their public responsibilities.
Finally, structural barriers refer to the obstacles that take the form of institutional, cultural, and religious barriers. They work together to imply that women are not qualified to hold positions of power. In addition, with the wage gap between men and women and with the types of jobs available to women, women lack the financial resources for running a campaign. As well, the types of jobs they hold don’t offer the occupational experience and leadership training necessary to run for public office.
Women’s Experiences of Empowerment through Direct Action in the Global Arena
Empowerment is defined “as the ability of women to make choices to improve their lives at all levels of society, from the individual and family to community, national and even the global level” (WOMN1005EL 10 Unit 17 279). Empowering women implies that women have the confidence of being able to do something about their situation and instigate change. With regards to the role of women in development, this requires women’s participation in and access to decision-making processes.
Although women became recipients of development benefits, they were still not actively involved in decision making, which was justified with the rationale that women’s lack of experience in holding leadership positions make them unqualified to meaningfully contribute to the decision-making process. As a result, various approaches were developed, with the goal of empowering women.
The WAD (Women and Development) approach advocated for the importance of organization work, and although it was criticized for not supporting women’s goal of “dismantling the global capitalist structure” (WOMN1005EL 10 Unit 17 279), the organization work did raise women’s consciousness and expanded their experience in decision-making and leadership. GAD (Gender and Development), on the other hand, advocated that women were not merely passive recipients of development but were instead active agents of development. As GAD’s emphasis was on gender relations, it promoted the formation of alliances not only with other women but also with men. It also promoted the use of education to raise the public’s consciousness, as well as lobbied the government.
WED (Women, Environment and Development) removed Third World women’s image as victims and initiated their transformation into a group that possessed resourcefulness, strength, and special skills. Although this view, in a way, romanticized women’s situation in that it reduced the role of more powerful structures that contributed to the marginalization of women, it was able to achieve some success, an example of which was the Chipko movement.
These and other approaches, such as Global Feminism and DAWN (Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era), led to the initiation of programs that had leadership training components embedded in them. As the United Nations stated, “Without the active participation of women and the incorporation of women’s perspective at all levels of decision-making, the goals of equality, development, and peace cannot be achieved” (WOMN1005EL 10 Unit 17 279).
It should be noted that the involvement of Canadian women have made a major impact on women, whether within or outside of Canada (WOMN1005EL 10 Unit 17 280). For example, the celebration of International Women’s Year, which was led by Susan Findlay – the chair of the Women’s Programme of the Secretary State at the time – funded and sponsored women’s activities and disseminated information about the events for International Women’s Year throughout the country. Since then, Canadian women marked the day by holding marches, rallies, and demonstrations.
The initial participants of these events were white European women and the events were confined to North America and Europe. As well, the events initially addressed local issues such as violence against women, child care, unequal pay, and job discrimination. However, by the late ‘70s, other issues such as militarism and imperialism were also addressed as First World women recognized these to be the issues faced by Third World women. In addition, the evolving demographic of Canadian women led issues such as racism to be included in the feminist agenda.
Canadian women’s participation in international conferences also led to the establishment of women’s organizations, which dealt with development issues. For example, the MATCH International Center was established after the 1st World Conference on Women, which was held in Mexico in 1975. It had the aim of improving women’s lives everywhere. This organization went through different phases – from the integration of women into development, to the evaluation of the impact of social relations to development, and to the promotion of partnerships with women’s groups in South America, the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa in order to empower women and to achieve fundamental freedoms and human rights through social, economic, political, and civil justice.
Another women’s organization, which was formed after the 1st UN Human Habitat Conference in Vancouver in 1976 was the WEED (Women, Environment, Education, Development Foundation). It incorporated “a globalist perspective to its mission of examining from a feminist perspective women’s multiple relations to their environments” (WOMN1005EL 10 Unit 17 280) – social, built, physical, and natural. The organization aimed to point out the link between poverty and the ecological degradation, population policies, and the imbalance between the First and Third World countries. Through a collaboration with the WNHE (Women’s Network on Health and the Environment), WEED also electronically published the Women and Environments (WE) International Magazine.
In addition, women have been involved in anti-militarist and peace movements through organizations such as the VOW (Canadian Voice of Women for Peace), which promoted – on the international, national, and local levels -- a woman’s perspective on issues that had to do with landmines, torture, child prostitution, child soldiers, refugee women, human rights and development, social justice, and peace.
First, Second, and Third Waves of the Women’s Movement
The women’s movement cannot be thought of as just one organization; rather, it consists of numerous groups, which varied in size and focus (WOMN1005EL 10 Unit 18 289). Some are aimed at the organization of women into unions while others are concerned with providing services or with legislative issues. Some have a homogeneous constituency while others have a heterogeneous constituency that deal with specific issues.
Nevertheless, women have established organizations around issues that reflect their own life situation and that are important to them (WOMN1005EL 10 Unit 18 289). All of them also share the same feminist beliefs that women should be able to attain equal rights and opportunities; that their sex serves as a hindrance to the realization of these rights and opportunities; and that they should be able to take action for the improvement of the situation.
The first wave of the women’s movement started in the mid-19th century and lasted until about 1920. It was mostly associated with the struggles to obtain the right to vote. and could be considered a “reaction to massive social change” (WOMN1005EL 10 Unit 18 291).
The first wave happened during the Industrial Revolution, which enabled middle-class women to have more money for technology and servants; thus, allowing them more time to ponder about such things as higher education, the problems that came with urbanization, prostitution, alcoholism, epidemics, infant mortality, the emigration of women, delinquency, and the working conditions of children and women among others. This led to a demand for a democratic sharing of power and for individual rights.
The common characteristics between the first and second waves were that the issues of concern within the movement were varied and that in both waves, women became aware of the oppression experienced by women through their work in other social movements such as the Abolitionist movement.
A distinct characteristic of the first wave, however, was the diversity of methods used by women to achieve their goals. Some groups used constitutional means awhile others attempted to obtain politicians’ support by distributing educational materials, holding meetings, and portraying an image of common sense and decency. Still, others chose to further their cause through publications and the print media.
Another distinct characteristic of the first wave was the diversity of ideology in that feminism was classified into two seemingly different beliefs, namely the feminism of difference and the feminism of equality. Feminism of equality advocated that “women should be entitled to the basic rights and privileges accorded to men” (WOMN1005EL 10 Unit 18 292) while the feminism of difference advocated that the different qualities of women were necessary to provide balance and redemption to the modern world and as such, must be accorded much more value.
The second wave started in the early 1960s and is ongoing until the present day. It was brought about by factors similar to the first wave, especially since the injustices experienced by women in the first wave still remained. However, the goals of the women’s movement in the second wave had a wider scope in that they tackled issues such as violence against women, women’s oppression in the family, and the cultural stereotyping of men and women WOMN1005EL 10 Unit 18 295).
One of the important milestones achieved during the second wave was the establishment of the Royal Commission. Another was the Constitutional Crisis of 1981, which led to the addition of Section 28 in the Charter of Rights, which in turn granted women with equal rights as men. The constitutional crisis served to prove to women that they could succeed as long as they were united. It emphasized the common ground that the various women’s groups shared, and as such, led to many of the divisions within the movement being overcome. It brought about the realization that women had to stay vigilant and proactive. Moreover, the constitutional crisis revitalized many women’s groups and encouraged other women to join. In the second wave, too, women’s organizations have shifted their focus to be more inclusive in both their processes and goals by including the concerns of poor and minority women.
The Third wave, on the other hand, began in the 1990s and continues to the present day. It is characterized by diversity and multiplicity where feminists practice their beliefs in their work, political, and personal lives. Feminists in the third wave believe that while there is no single feminism, there is also no single feminist politics, economic objective, or social agenda.
Some of the challenges currently faced by feminism include the fragmentation of the women’s movement into smaller groups and the lack government funding. Moreover, the institutionalization of feminism reduces the chances for the emergence of strong initiatives on women’s equality. As well, feminism has to contend with anti-feminist groups and initiatives.
In conclusion, women had to struggle hard in order to attain the status they enjoy now, although they still continue to struggle. The Women's movement became the vehicle for women to fight for their causes in order to promote improvements in the lives and status of women. Canadian women, in particular, were very active in furthering feminist causes, starting with the attainment of the right to vote, the right to hold office, and the constitutional change that granted women equal rights as men.
Women's groups have continued to develop programs for women's empowerment, which also -- even partially - led to the alleviation of women's suffering. These struggles and initiatives have been showcased during the first, second, and third waves of the women's movement, which also showed that despite the challenges that feminists continue to face, these women continue in their fight and never lose the hope and vision that one day, all of the discrimination and prejudice directed at women will be eliminated.
Works Cited
WOMN 1005EL 10 Unit 16-18
