Right to vote of Québec women

Step by step, the quest by Québec women for political equality

1791 - 1849 - One step forward, two steps back…

Under the Constitutional Act, 1791 certain owners and tenants were granted qualified voter status, without distinction as to sex. Some women of Lower Canada who met the prerequisites interpreted this constitutional "oversight" as an authorization to vote. It would seem that they were the only women in the British Empire to avail themselves of this right[1]. However, the spirit of the times was not one of feminism, and history would see to it that women return to their domestic activities. In the February 3, 1834 issue of La Minerve, Louis-Joseph Papineau clearly voiced the mentality of the era: "It is revolting to see women dragged by their husbands and daughters, by their fathers, often against their will, to hustings. Public interest, decency and, the modesty of women demand that these scandals never reoccur"[2]. In 1849, under the leadership of La Fontaine-Baldwin, this "historical irregularity" was rectified when women were formally prohibited from voting.

1912 - 1922 - The beginnings of the suffragist movement

It would not be until the 20^th century that a true movement to abolish electoral discrimination against women would appear in Québec. The fight began at the federal level. In 1912, the Montreal Suffrage Association mobilized its forces to obtain the right to vote in federal elections. This goal was achieved in 1918.

Meanwhile, suffragettes were active in the other provinces. Manitoba was the first province to grant women the right to vote in 1916, followed that very same year by Saskatchewan and Alberta. In 1917, British Columbia and Ontario followed suit. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island authorized women to vote in 1918, 1919 and 1922 respectively.

Only Québec women remained excluded from political life and they would have to wait several more years to regain their right to vote.

1922 - 1940 - Suffragettes crusade for equality

• Activists organize
  
  The Québec suffragist movement was basically centered in urban areas and was the initiative of a minority of women who were ahead of their time.
  
  It was in 1922 that the Comité provincial pour le suffrage féminin (CPSF) (Provincial committee for women’s suffrage) was created. For the most part, the members of this organization came from the Montreal Suffrage Association and the Fédération nationale Saint-Jean-Baptiste. English-speaking and French-speaking activists joined forces for the same cause. Initially, the committee was co-chaired by Mrs. Marie Gérin-Lajoie and Mrs. Walter Lyman. A split in the group occurred in 1927. Two women would then take over the leadership of the suffragist movement: Idola Saint-Jean with the Canadian Alliance for Women’s Votes and Thérèse Casgrain with the Comité du suffrage provincial (Provincial suffrage committee) which, became, in 1929, the League for Women’s Rights.
  
  
• Adversaries
  
  The quest for democratic freedoms would be long and the road would be paved with many pitfalls. Indeed, there was no shortage of adversaries. The clergy, politicians, journalists, the majority of women, society in general did not subscribe to the idea of seeing Québec women become full-fledged citizens. To understand this attitude, it is necessary to recall the mores and values of the era. For most opponents, the political emancipation of Québec women meant the end of a social order, the foundations of which were based on the exclusion of women. The Civil Code, adopted in 1866, confirmed this exclusion by entrenching the legal incapacity of married women.
  
  For the most part, the arguments against giving women the right to vote centered on their place in the home and their role as guardians of the French-Canadian race.
  
  The struggle for universal suffrage gave rise to stormy debates. The following words are a good reflection of the obstacles and biases confronting suffragettes:
"The entry of women into politics, even if only by suffrage, would be a misfortune for our province. Nothing justifies it, neither natural law nor the social interest; the authorities in Rome approve of our views, which are those of our entire episcopate." Words of Cardinal Bégin (source: Cap-aux-Diamants, n^o 21, spring of 1990, p. 23.

"The argument of the similarity with the other provinces is cited, as if for some, progress consists of aping what others do. Québec has its traditions, its customs and they are its strength and its greatness. Were this bill to pass, women would resemble a star having left its orbit." L.-A. Giroux, legislative councillor (Wellington), excerpt from the April 25, 1940 debates at the Legislative Assembly.

"…French-Canadian women risk becoming "public women", "veritable women-men, hybrids that would destroy women-mothers and women-women." Henri Bourassa, founder of Le Devoir, (source: Cap-aux-Diamants, n^o 21, spring of 1990, p. 20).

• Strategy
  
  This was the context of the struggle by women to acquire the right to vote. The battle was organized along two main lines. First, activists embarked upon media operations with the general public. Public demonstrations, the use of the media and carefully orchestrated information campaigns allowed the suffragist movement to gradually change mentalities and to rally behind its cause public opinion, which had largely been resistant initially.
  
  While this marketing operation was taking place, women engaged in lobbying with parliamentarians at the Québec Legislative Assembly. In 1922, and from1927 until victory was finally achieved, suffragettes literally marched on Québec City. Each year, they found a parliamentarian who sided with their cause to sponsor bills on suffrage. Henry Miles agreed to introduce the first of these bills. It would take several pilgrimages and fourteen bills to achieve victory.
  
  Bill 18, sponsored by Premier Joseph-Adélard Godbout and assented to on April 25, 1940, put an end to electoral discrimination against women. Québec women would henceforth be able to vote and to stand for office.

1940 - 2000 - Sixty years later

April 25, 1940 marked the end of a hard-fought struggle and the beginning of a new era in which women would continue to fight for their rights and to improve society. However, it was not until 1961 that they would have a voice inside parliament. This voice was that of Marie-Claire Kirkland-Casgrain. The first woman to become a Member of the Legislative Assembly and the first to become a minister, she advanced the cause of women by tabling a bill which, in 1964, put an end to the legal incapacity of married women.

However, a significant presence by women in the National Assembly would not be felt until the 1980s. Women would have to wait until 1985 for the number of women MNAs to exceed ten: 18 in 1985, 23 in 1989 and 1994, finally reaching 29 at the time of the 1998 general election, namely 23% of the seats.

The political equality of women and their access to power have contributed to the evolution of legislation and have made it possible to initiate numerous measures that have helped Québec society to move forward. Since the adoption of the Québec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms in 1975, all discrimination based on gender has been prohibited.

The struggle for women’s rights has taken place one step at a time or as Thérèse Casgrain put it when talking about women’s fight for universal suffrage: "Give it enough time and one can cook an elephant in a small pot![3]"

October 2, 2000

On October 2, 2000, the Directeur général des élections du Québec, the Conseil du statut de la femme, the Commission de la capitale nationale and the National Assembly unveiled a poster underscoring the 60th anniversary of women's right to vote. "The artist, Brigitte Labbé, offers us a serene woman, a woman who belongs to every era, a woman" free to make her voice heard". The poster created from this work of art is a testimony to all women, for there can be no democracy without them."

Check your knowledge

Sources :

BIBLIOTHÈQUE DE L’ASSEMBLÉE NATIONALE. Le suffrage féminin: débats sur la Loi accordant aux femmes le droit de vote et d’éligibilité, Division de la recherche, 9 - 25 avril 1940, Québec 1990, 30 pages.

BRADBURY, Bettina. « Devenir majeure - la lente conquête des droits » dans Cap-aux-Diamants, n^o 21, printemps 1990, p. 35 à 38.

CLEVERDON, Catherine Lyse. Woman Suffrage Movement in Canada. University of Toronto Press, 1950.

COLLECTIF CLIO. L’histoire des femmes du Québec. Quinze, Montréal 1982.

DARSIGNY, Maryse. « Les femmes à l’isoloir : la lutte pour le droit de vote » dans Cap-aux-Diamants, n^o 21, printemps 1990, p. 19 à 21.

LAMOUREUX, Diane. « Citoyennes? Femmes, droit de vote et démocratie. » Les Éditions remue-ménage, Montréal 1989.

LAPLANTE, Laurent. « Les femmes et le droit de vote - L’épiscopat rend les armes » dans Cap-aux-Diamants, n^o 21, printemps 1990, p. 23 à 25.