The History of Woman Suffrage Volume VI Part 69

FOOTNOTES:

[215] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett, J.P., LL.D., who has been prominently connected with the movement for women's suffrage in Great Britain for nearly fifty years and was President of the National a.s.sociation from 1904, when it was re-organized, until after the victory was won in 1918.

[216] Accompanying this chapter was a complete list of laws in the interest of women enacted by the Parliament beginning in 1902, prepared by Miss Chrystal Macmillan, M.A., B.Sc. The lack of s.p.a.ce which has compelled the omission of similar laws from all of the State chapters makes it necessary in this one. Three of importance politically are given.--Ed.

CHAPTER LII.

WOMAN SUFFRAGE IN BRITISH COLONIES.

In granting the complete franchise to a part of her women in 1918 Great Britain followed all of her self-governing colonies, which, with the exception of South Africa, had given the full suffrage on the same terms as exercised by men. New Zealand, Australia and Canada gave Munic.i.p.al suffrage at early dates, extending from 1867 in New South Wales to 1894 in the Northwest Territories of Canada.

NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand was the first country in the world to give full suffrage to women, its Parliament in 1893 conferring the franchise on all persons over 21. In case of women, however, this did not include the right to sit in Parliament, and, although efforts to secure this right were made at intervals during all the following years, the bill for it several times pa.s.sing the Lower House, they were not successful until 1919. The unvarying record has been that the registration and vote of women have nearly averaged those of men and in some instances have exceeded them. In the election of 1919 the registration of men was 355,000; of women, 328,320. New Zealand is noted for its advanced legislation.

AUSTRALIA.

In 1901 the six States of Australia federated in a commonwealth with a National Parliament and one of its earliest acts in June, 1902, was to confer the complete universal suffrage on women and eligibility to this body. About 800,000 women were thus enfranchised. This action had been preceded by the granting of the State suffrage by the Legislatures in South Australia in 1894 and in West Australia in 1899 and this was done in New South Wales in August, 1902. Women received the State suffrage in Tasmania and Queensland in 1905, Victoria in 1908. South Australia was the only one that gave the right to sit in the Legislature with the State suffrage. This eligibility was not conferred until 1919 in New South Wales and Victoria; 1920 in West Australia and does not yet exist in Tasmania and Queensland. One must be a property owner to be a munic.i.p.al voter or office holder.

Australia has largely subst.i.tuted advanced legislation for women for the English Common Law. The statistics relating to the voting of women follow closely those of New Zealand. There never has been a proposal to take away the political privileges of women, which could be done by an Act of Parliament. On the contrary during the years when the contest for woman suffrage was being carried on in Great Britain its Parliament was more than once urged by that of Australia to grant it.

In 1917, when the struggle was at its height, the strongest possible memorial was adopted by the National Parliament of Australia, which said:

Appreciating the blessings of self-government in Australia through adult suffrage, and appreciating the desire of Your Majesty's Government to vindicate the claims of the small nations to self-government, we are confident that Your Majesty will recognize the justice of the same claim in the case of the small nation of women in Your Majesty's kingdom--women who, in this great crisis in the history of the British Empire ... have proved themselves as worthy soldiers as those on the battlefield, and as worthy of the protection of the ballot, which is conceded to men.... We are deeply interested in the welfare of the women of the Empire and we again humbly pet.i.tion Your Majesty to endow them with that right of self-government for which they have pet.i.tioned for nearly three-quarters of a century.

The most prominent statesmen of Australia and New Zealand in their visits to Great Britain, Canada and the United States have given testimony as to the benefits of woman suffrage.

DOMINION OF CANADA.

When Volume IV of this History was written in 1900 four pages sufficed for an account of woman suffrage in Canada. It was confined to a Munic.i.p.al or School franchise or both in the Provinces for widows and spinsters, and in some of them married women were included. This privilege began in Ontario in 1884 and the situation remained unchanged until 1916, when the World War, which brought the full enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women in many countries, began to have its effect in Canada. For the large amount of valuable material from which the following brief resume is made the History is indebted to Dr. Augusta Stowe Gullen, a leader of the woman suffrage movement. Its foundation was laid in 1878 and following years by the mother of Dr. Gullen, the pioneer woman physician, Dr. Emily Howard Stowe, a friend and contemporary of Susan B. Anthony[217]. Dr. Stowe was a founder and the first president of the Dominion Women's Enfranchis.e.m.e.nt a.s.sociation, which secured many privileges for women.

The first woman suffrage society was organized in 1883 in the city council chamber of Toronto with the Mayor in the chair. Mrs. Donald McEwan was made president and other officers were Dr. Stowe, Miss Mary McDonnell and Dr. James L. Hughes, afterwards Inspector of Schools.

Pet.i.tions were sent to the Dominion Parliament and bills presented but when in the late 90's the Electoral Act was changed to make the voters' list for its members coincide with the lists in the Provinces, the latter became in a large measure the battle ground, although the efforts for a national law were not discontinued. The movement for Prohibition had a strong influence in the granting of woman suffrage in the Provinces and it was hastened by the splendid war work of the women.

The first Provincial Legislature to enfranchise women was that of Manitoba, Jan 27, 1916. A convention of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union as early as July, 1902, pa.s.sed a resolution to press the work for it and later in the year the Labor Party endorsed equal suffrage through its paper, _The Voice_, and its officers affiliated with the suffrage club. Dr. Amelia Yeomans was a devoted worker. In 1906 when there was a prospect that the Munic.i.p.al vote would be taken away from married women property owners, the Liberal party convention made its retention a plank in their platform but the Conservative Legislature abolished it. In 1907 it was restored. In 1913 the women succeeded in getting a full suffrage bill before one House of the Legislature, which was defeated by 21 to 14 votes. The next year the Liberal Party pledged itself to give the complete franchise if it won the election. It did so and the women rolled up a big pet.i.tion as a backing. Premier Norris and the Cabinet supported the bill. The Executive Board of the Political Equality League were invited to seats on the floor of the House the day of the third reading and the bill giving women equal suffrage and eligibility was pa.s.sed amid great enthusiasm by unanimous vote.

The suffragists of Alberta began extensive work in 1910 to have the Munic.i.p.al franchise possessed by widows and spinsters extended to married women and the agitation was continued to include the full suffrage. Following the example of Manitoba Premier A. L. Sifton announced on Feb. 24, 1916, before the Legislature opened, that the Government would introduce a woman suffrage bill of the widest scope.

The bill pa.s.sed in Alberta in March with the full approval of press and people and the suffragists met at once in the home of Mrs. Nellie McClung at Edmonton to arrange for taking up their new duties. Mrs. O.

C. Edwards had been a ceaseless worker here and in Saskatchewan. In 1914 the first woman Judge in Canada, Mrs. Jamieson, president of the Local Council of Women of Calgary, was appointed by the Attorney General as Commissioner of the Juvenile Court. In February, 1918, two women, Mrs. L. M. McKinney and Miss Roberta McAdams, a Lieutenant on the staff of the Canadian military hospital in Orpington, Kent, were elected to the Legislature, the first women legislators in the British Empire.

In 1910 the women of Saskatchewan sent in pet.i.tions, some of them endorsed by city councils, asking Munic.i.p.al suffrage for married women, but the Government refused it. In opening the Legislature on Mar. 14, 1916, Lieutenant Governor Lake said: "In future years the one outstanding feature of your program will be the full enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women." The suffragists of the Province had been organized about five years and the president of the Franchise Board, Mrs. F. A.

Lawton, had presented to Premier Scott a pet.i.tion signed by 10,000 names to show that public sentiment was in favor of this action. He answered that he could give them a definite answer and, as he had already announced, their request would be granted. He said that although Manitoba had been the first to give women the suffrage those of Saskatchewan would be the first to have a chance to use it. At an early and full meeting of the Legislature a number of members spoke in favor of it and it pa.s.sed practically without opposition. In 1919 Mrs.

M. O. Ramsden was elected to the Legislature.

In 1902 a pet.i.tion for woman suffrage was presented to the Government in British Columbia and refused. Another effort was made in 1903 but the subject was not brought before the Legislature until 1906, when it defeated a bill. In 1908 it took away the Munic.i.p.al franchise from women householders. The women's clubs in Victoria secured 1,000 names in three days protesting against this action. Mr. Naden, Liberal member from Greenwood, introduced a bill restoring it, supported by his party, but it was defeated. The Council of Women, at its November meeting, adopted a resolution "to do all in its power to promote the woman suffrage cause." It was the first Local Council in Canada to endorse this cause and later held two public meetings in its interest.

In 1910 extensive work was done to regain the Munic.i.p.al franchise. In 1911 nine important amendments to the very reprehensible laws concerning women and children were submitted to the Legislature by the Council through the Attorney General and one was pa.s.sed. In the autumn the Political Equality Club was re-organized in Victoria, Mrs. Gordon Grant, president, and in December at a Provincial Conference in Vancouver she a.s.sisted in organizing one there; Mrs. Lashley Hall, president--later Mrs. C. Townley--and Miss Lily Laverock, secretary.

The two societies organized a large deputation to wait upon the Attorney General and solicit better property laws for women, equal guardians.h.i.+p of children for mothers, the right taken away from fathers to dispose of their guardians.h.i.+p by will and other equally needed laws. They also memorialized the Legislature for the full Provincial suffrage for women. On Feb. 15, 1913, fifty women in the Province presented a pet.i.tion of 10,000 names to the Premier, asking that suffrage on equal terms with men be given to women and on the 19th he answered that as a matter of Government policy it was impossible.

The agitation increased and continued until the full enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women in the three great Provinces to the east brought the question to a climax. Even then, however, it was not allowed to be settled by the Legislature, as it had been in those Provinces, but on April 14, 1916, Premier Bowser stated that the Elections Act, which provided for allowing a vote to soldiers over 18, would include women and would be submitted to a referendum of the electors. This was done by the Legislature, which met May 31, and the election took place September 15. The amendment was carried by an immense majority in every district, about two to one, and later this was increased by the large favorable majority of the absent soldiers, who were ent.i.tled to vote. It went into effect March 1, 1917. The area of Canadian territory in which women were now enfranchised extended from Ontario to the Pacific Ocean. In 1919 Mrs. Ralph Smith, widow of the Minister of Finance, was elected to the Legislature and in 1921 she was made Speaker, the first instance on record.

The struggle for woman suffrage in Canada was now centered in the Province of Ontario, where it began in 1883, and it was largely carried on during much of the time by the Dominion Women's Enfranchis.e.m.e.nt a.s.sociation, which had been incorporated in 1889. Dr.

Augusta Stowe Gullen became its president in 1903, after the death of her mother, Dr. Emily Howard Stowe, and held it until 1911. While its princ.i.p.al object was the Dominion or National franchise for all women it was for years at the head of the effort for the Provincial suffrage in Ontario. In 1905, in connection with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, it organized a very representative deputation to wait upon the Premier to ask that the Munic.i.p.al vote possessed by widows and spinsters be extended to married women. He said that 'neither he nor any other statesman had placed woman where she was; that the Infinite was at work and woman being a part of the Divine plan her place was a.s.signed by a greater power.' In 1906 a deputation from the a.s.sociation, headed by Dr. Stowe Gullen, with Dr. Margaret Gordon and Mrs. Flora McDonald Denison as speakers, called on the Mayor and Council of Toronto and asked them to pa.s.s a resolution for the extension of this Munic.i.p.al franchise. They did so and sent it by this deputation to the Legislature. As a result a bill for it was introduced and after a day's fun and sarcasm in the House it was defeated by 69 to 2.

In 1907 the Dominion a.s.sociation at its annual meeting changed its name to the Canadian Suffrage a.s.sociation. In 1908 it decided not to memorialize the Government but to make greater efforts to organize and for this purpose Mrs. Denison, vice-president and official organizer, visited Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. On March 24, 1909, the a.s.sociation sent a deputation of 1,000 of its members to the House of Parliament to ask for full suffrage for the women of Ontario. Dr.

Stowe Gullen presented with a strong argument a pet.i.tion which represented 100,000 names and many important organizations, among them the Women's University Clubs, Women Teachers' a.s.sociation, Medical Alumnae of the University of Toronto, Progressive Club, Trades and Labor Council, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Woman's Christian Temperance Union and Dominion Temperance a.s.sociation. There were prominent men and women speakers. Sir James Whitney, the Premier, answered adversely. The crowds were so great that Cabinet ministers could not gain admittance but all this demonstration resulted in no action. Allan Studholme, Labor member from East Hamilton, introduced a bill for woman suffrage, which was defeated.

In 1910 all the members throughout the Province were written to or interviewed by suffragists, but the woman suffrage bill of the labor members was defeated. Through the efforts of Mrs. Denison, Mrs.

Emmeline Pankhurst and Mrs. Philip Snowden of England came to Toronto and lectured in Ma.s.sey Hall to immense audiences. Dr. Gordon attended the annual meeting of the National Council of Women in Halifax and presented a motion that "the Council place itself on record in favor of the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women." This was seconded by Dr. Rachel Todd in behalf of the Medical Alumnae, University of Toronto. After much discussion it was carried and this large and influential organization was brought into the movement. The Local Council of Toronto adopted a resolution to the same effect.

In 1911 the a.s.sociation organized another deputation to wait upon the Premier March 4, who were introduced by William Munns, the secretary.

The bill introduced by Mr. Studholme, seconded by W. Proudfoot, Liberal from Center Huron after three days' discussion was lost.

Before the Provincial elections the a.s.sociation sent a letter to all candidates and twenty-five answered that they would vote for woman suffrage if elected. In June Dr. Stowe Gullen resigned the presidency and Mrs. Denison was chosen in her place and Mrs. William Munns was elected secretary. Mrs. Denison, who was an ardent suffragist, an indefatigable worker and a fine organizer, edited a page in the Toronto _Sunday World_ each week devoted to woman suffrage, which was of immeasurable value. She represented the a.s.sociation at the meetings of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance in Copenhagen in 1906 and in Budapest in 1913. This last year she organized a delegation and went with them to take part in the suffrage parade in Was.h.i.+ngton, D.

C., March 3.

In 1912 three suffrage bills were introduced. A resolution was moved by Mr. Marshall, Liberal, from Lincoln, seconded by Mr. Bowman, Liberal whip, but no bill was pa.s.sed. Bills were presented every year only to be voted down by the Conservative Government. N. W. Rowell, the Liberal leader, pledged the support of his party in a non-partisan measure but in vain.

In 1912 Mrs. Denison secured for a deputation an interview with Sir Robert L. Borden, Prime Minister of Canada, to ask that the Dominion Parliament should grant a national franchise to women. He stated the difficulties in the way, as the Election Act provided that the Provincial lists of voters were in force for the election of the members of the Dominion Parliament and if the Provinces did not first grant the suffrage to women the cost and work would be required of preparing new lists of the women voters. He said that each Province must enfranchise its women before the Federal Government could act and no Province had done so at this time.

In 1914 Dr. Gordon, president of the Toronto Suffrage Society, organized an influential deputation from its members which asked the city council to submit to the voters at the approaching local election the question of extending to married women the Munic.i.p.al franchise now possessed by widows and spinsters simply to ascertain their opinion.

This was done and the measure was carried by a majority of 13,713.

During 1914, 1915 and 1916 Dr. Gordon sent a letter to the councils of the other cities, towns, villages and rural communities asking them to hold a referendum or to pa.s.s a resolution in favor of this extension and send it to the Government. The letters were followed by a successful campaign in the munic.i.p.alities by the society. As a result 33 referenda were held, all giving favorable majorities, and about 160 other munic.i.p.al governments memorialized the Ontario Legislature in favor. Dr. Gullen published an open letter describing these efforts.

They had no effect on the Legislature nor did it make any concessions to the women even in the way of much needed better laws, for which they pet.i.tioned.

At the annual meeting of the Canadian Suffrage a.s.sociation, October 30 Mrs. Denison resigned the presidency and Dr. Gordon was elected. On the 31st the members put on record the work of its beloved founder and one of the originators of the National Council of Women by presenting a bronze bust of Dr. Emily Howard Stowe to the city of Toronto. It was officially received by the Mayor and placed in the main corridor of Munic.i.p.al Hall, the first memorial of this kind to any woman in Canada.

This year the National Council of Women took a firm stand and urged that each Province fully enfranchise its women and asked the Dominion Parliament to grant the Federal vote to women. In 1915 the Ontario society sent another deputation to the Legislature to ask for the Munic.i.p.al franchise and reminded the Premier, Sir William Hearst, of the favorable verdict that had been given by the voters. He answered that "it had not been proved that the influence of women for good would be increased by the possession of the franchise." When asked if he would submit the question of their full suffrage to the voters of the Province he replied that this would mean only a vote by the men and he was most desirous to ascertain the wishes of the women! No attention was paid to either request. In 1916 the a.s.sociation again went to the Legislature with a pet.i.tion but Mr. Studholme's bill was defeated. This year came the complete enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women in all the Provinces between Ontario and the Pacific Ocean. The women of Canada had given their full share of the work and sacrifices demanded by the war for two years but in the Province of Ontario not the slightest recognition had been shown of their right to a voice in the Government.

The franchise societies and the W. C. T. U. canva.s.sed the whole Province, circulating a monster pet.i.tion for the full Provincial franchise. A group of women in Toronto organized an Anti-Suffrage a.s.sociation and called a public meeting at which the suffragists were denounced for "pressing their claims when all the thought and effort of the Government should be given to the demands of the war." Up to 1917 neither the Liberal nor Conservative party had shown the least favor to woman suffrage but now the former, which was out of power, made it a plank of its platform and its leader, N. W. Rowell, on February 20 at the opening of Parliament moved an amendment to the speech from the throne providing for the full enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women in Ontario. It was declared out of order by Premier Hearst. A few days later J. W. Johnson of Belleville, a private member, introduced a bill for woman suffrage. On February 27 this bill was indorsed for the Conservative Government by Premier Hearst, who said: "Having taken our women into partners.h.i.+p with us in our tremendous task I ask, 'Can we justly deny them a share in the government of the country, the right to have a say about the making of the laws they have been so heroically trying to defend?' My answer is, 'I think not.'"

Thus without discussion this act of justice for which women had pet.i.tioned since 1903 was granted by a single word. Mr. Rowell and the Liberals united with the Conservatives and the bill was pa.s.sed Feb.

27, 1917. Although pa.s.sed by a Union Government it was largely due to the incessant efforts of the Liberal members in the past.

While in Quebec and a few of the small Provinces the suffrage was still withheld from women it now so largely prevailed that their national enfranchis.e.m.e.nt by the Dominion Parliament seemed the next inevitable step. During 1917 Sir Robert Borden made a visit to England and the war front. Although it was estimated that in some of the Provinces one man in every fourteen had enlisted, he returned fully convinced that "conscription" would be necessary and this would require a referendum to the voters. Quebec would vote solidly against it, as would certain elements in the other Provinces. A Fusion party was formed in the Parliament and under tremendous pressure a War Time Election Act was pa.s.sed in September. It disfranchised during the war Doukhobors and Mennonites, conscientious objectors, those born in enemy countries not naturalized before 1902 and some others. It enfranchised certain women in all the Provinces and Yukon and the Northwest Territories, which send a member to the Parliament, in the following words: "Every female who, being a British subject and qualified as to age, race and residence as required of a male, is the wife, widow, mother, sister or daughter of any person, male or female, living or dead, who is serving or has served without Canada in any of the military forces, or within or without in any of the naval forces of Canada or Great Britain in the present war...."

It was estimated that this Act would enable about 600,000 women to vote when the question of "conscription" was submitted and leave about 1,000,000 unable to do so although having the Provincial franchise. It raised a storm of protest from those who were not included and who doubted that this arbitrary action would result in securing conscription. Sir Robert Borden had no doubts but based his faith on the belief that those women having relatives in the war would vote to compel other men to go and he said at the time: "We are now verging on the point at which women must be ent.i.tled to the same voice in directing the affairs of this country as men, and as far as I am concerned I commit myself absolutely to that proposition, but in working it out it is necessary to take into account certain considerations." With this concession the women had to be satisfied.

The general campaign came on in November 1917, with "conscription" the issue on which the Government appealed for return to power. The election took place in December and the Union Government carried the four Western Provinces, Ontario and New Brunswick, receiving almost the full vote of the women. The Opposition carried Quebec, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

During the campaign the Premier several times pledged himself and his Government to equal suffrage for women and it was generally recognized that if they were re-elected this pledge would be redeemed at an early date. This action was urged by the Labor members. On Feb. 15, 1918, the Government announced the extension of the full suffrage to the women of Canada as a part of its policy and its consideration of the measure at the approaching session of Parliament. Later the War Cabinet invited all of the large organizations of women in the Dominion to send representatives to a conference with the Government in Ottawa on March 1. There was a very large response and the delegates were welcomed by the Governor General, the Duke of Devons.h.i.+re, with a tribute to the conduct of women during the war. The President of the Privy Council, N. W. Rowell, outlined the work of the Conference and the confidence felt by the Government in the continued a.s.sistance of women. They were a.s.sured by various members of the Government of the desire for their suggestions on all matters connected with the carrying on of the war. The conference lasted for a week and the women submitted their recommendations, the first of which was that women should be permitted to take a fuller share in the responsibilities of government. All of these were respectfully and cordially received by the members of the Cabinet.

The Parliament opened on March 18. The Duke of Devons.h.i.+re read the speech from the throne to galleries crowded with women and said in the course of it: "A bill for extending the franchise to women, with suitable provisions respecting naturalization, will be submitted and commended to your consideration."

Sir Robert Borden introduced the bill March 21 and an extended discussion took place in the House on the 23rd. There was no real opposition, although the members from Quebec were not friendly, saying that it was not wanted there by men or women. Sir Wilfred Laurier favored woman suffrage but thought it should be conferred only by the Provinces. The Premier spoke at length in moving the second reading.

It pa.s.sed without division and again on the third reading April 12, 1918, when the full Parliamentary or Federal suffrage was conferred on every woman who fulfilled the following conditions: (1) Is a British subject; (2) is of the full age of 21 years or upwards; (3) possesses the qualifications which would ent.i.tle a male person to vote at a Dominion election in the Province in which the woman is seeking to vote, provided that a married woman or a daughter living at home with her parents shall be deemed to have any necessary property or income qualifications if her husband or either of her parents is so qualified. A woman is banned if married to an enemy alien. This Act superseded the War Time Election Act.[218] The following year this Parliament pa.s.sed an Act enabling a wife to retain her nationality.[219]