While I exercised my fledgling snowbird wings in Florida this winter, many pals made time to share a little sunshine with me. On one visit, a friend of nearly 30 years and I somehow got into a gentle debate about when women in Canada got the right to vote. I said 1918; she was adamant that it wasn’t until 1960. We hauled our sun-drenched bodies from the lanai to the computer to do a little research.
Turns out we were both right. But our perspectives were slightly off.
I googled women in Canada and March 1918 popped up as the year all women who were qualified could vote in federal elections! I do like being right.
After a long swallow of her frosty, sweet iced tea, and giving me enough time to gloat, she casually suggested I adjust my search parameters to ‘all women in Canada’. Huh? Didn’t I just do that? So I searched again, inserting that little word ‘all’.
She was right … it was 1960! Native women covered by the Indian Act were prohibited from voting in federal elections until 1960. Most women of colour – Chinese women, ‘Hindu’ or East Indian women, Japanese women – were granted the right to vote at the federal level in the late 1940’s.
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She should have been smug as hell, but instead she gave a little sigh, the kind of sigh that only a first nation woman, who has struggled against prejudice for a lifetime, has any right to make.
So, we topped up our glasses, returned to the sunshine and continued the conversation about all womens rights in Canada.
6 comments
11 March 2012 at 9:29 pm
Heart To Harp
Perspective is everything…..and it’s good friends who can take a look from each other’s perspective and experiences.
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12 March 2012 at 8:33 am
Cheryl
Good morning, Janet. In future when searching information about Canadians, I’ll be sure to insert “all” in my criteria. Lesson(s) learned.
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9 March 2012 at 1:29 pm
Mary
I’m gobsmacked. I would have thought 1918 for everyone too. Now I feel crummy for the stragglers who deserved the same rights but had to wait 42 years longer. What a world we live in. Glad you had a stimulating conversation and glad you told us the outcome.
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9 March 2012 at 1:36 pm
Cheryl
I certainly believed it was 1918 at the federal level. However, what really hit me was the difference in seemingly accurate reported information if the word “all” is omitted from the search criteria. I’ll remember that in future searches. Try it yourself, Mary …
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9 March 2012 at 9:22 am
Kate Kresse
WOW. I had no idea it took that long in Canada for all women to get the right to vote.
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9 March 2012 at 9:23 am
Cheryl Andrews
Good Morning, Kate. I was surprised too!
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