Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Association

Last updated
Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Association
Formation1889
TypeNon-profit association
PurposeObtain the vote for women
HeadquartersToronto
Region
Canada

The Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Association (DWEA) was an organization founded by Dr. Emily Howard Stowe in 1889 to fight for the right of women to vote. She was succeeded by her daughter Dr. Augusta Stowe-Gullen as President of the Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Association in 1903. [1] Later the association was renamed the Canadian Suffrage Association in 1906.

Contents

Background

Dr. Emily Howard Stowe (1831–1903) was the first Canadian woman to practice medicine in Canada. She was not allowed to study medicine in Canada, so she moved to the United States and obtained a degree in homeopathic medicine from the New York Medical College for Women in 1867 and that year opened her homeopathy practice in Toronto. [2] It was not until 1880 that she was granted a licence to practice medicine. [3] In 1877 Stowe was one of the founders of the Toronto Women's Literary Guild, which managed to obtain access to some higher education for women and improve women's working conditions. The Guild was renamed the Canadian Women's Suffrage Association in 1883, with Jessie (McEwen) Turnbull as its first president. [3]

Foundation

In 1888 Stowe attended an international suffragette conference in Washington, D.C., United States. Fired with determination to bring new life to the movement, she founded the Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Association (DWEA) in 1889. [3] The DWEA was among a number of Women's organizations founded around this time and run by exceptionally capable women, others being the Women's Art Association of Canada, National Council of Women of Canada, Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire (IODE), the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), Girls' Friendly Society of Canada, Women's Institutes and Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). [4]

History

Stowe was the first president of the DWEA. She held office from 1889 until her death in 1903. [3] Within a year of its foundation branches began to appear in different towns of Ontario. [5] On 12–13 June 1890 the DWEA held a convention in Toronto attended by more than 100 women. Speakers included Dr. Emily Stowe and the Reverend Anna Howard Shaw, M.D. of the United States. [6] Kathleen Blake Coleman of the Mail invited comment from her readers. She quoted one from "Pollie" at length, [6]

Giving women the ballot would not fail to have a beneficial effect on the future of Canada. If woman's indirect influence has in most cases been on the side of good, how much more her direct influence will be felt when she had a voice in making the laws of her country. She will then see to it that we have laws to amend the purity and happiness of her home ... Canadian future statesmen,—by having less temptation to contend with, would become more intelligent, for believe me, Kit, one half the men—politically speaking—are densely ignorant. [6]

In 1890 the DWEA sponsored a suffrage bill, but without success. [7] At this stage the suffragettes were simply claiming the right to vote since they paid taxes and could bring new ideas to politics. Otherwise, they were not asking for full equality of the sexes. Most believed that the woman's place was in the home, but did not think this was incompatible with voting. [8] In 1893 the DWEA was one of the first national organizations to federate with the National Council of Women of Canada. [9] Emily Stowe and Emily Willoughby Cummings of the Anglican Women's Auxiliary were two of the organizers of the founding meeting of the National Council, held in the Horticultural Pavilion in Toronto on 27 October 1893. About 1,500 women attended, and some men. [10]

Stowe and her daughter Augusta Stowe-Gullen (1857–1943), the first woman to graduate from a Canadian medical school, organized a much publicized "mock parliament". [3] The debate was staged in 1896. [11] The women participants debated whether men should be given the vote. Using the same arguments that men had used against votes for women, they voted against the proposal. [3] Despite their efforts, the DWEA was not successful in advancing the cause of women's suffrage in Canada at either the Federal or Provincial levels. No bills were introduced between 1893 and 1910 for women's votes, and the conservative National Council of Women of Canada would not give support until 1910. [12]

The Canadian Suffrage Association was founded in 1906. [13] Augusta Stowe-Gullen became president of this successor organization. She later became vice-president of the National Council of Women. [11]

Related Research Articles

Jennie Kidd Trout Canadian physician

Jennie Kidd Trout was the first woman in Canada to become a licensed medical doctor, on March 11, 1875. Trout was the only woman in Canada licensed to practice medicine until July 1880, when Emily Stowe completed the official qualifications.

Emily Stowe Canadian physician

Emily Howarde Stowe was the first female physician to practise in Canada, the second licensed female physician in Canada and an activist for women's rights and suffrage. Stowe helped found the women's suffrage movement in Canada and campaigned for the country's first medical college for women.

Womens College Hospital Hospital in Ontario, Canada

Women's College Hospital is a teaching hospital in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the north end of Hospital Row, a section of University Avenue where several major hospitals are located. It currently functions as an independent ambulatory care hospital. The Chief of Staff is Dr. Sheila Laredo and the physician-in-chief is Dr. Paula Harvey.

The abortion trial of Emily Stowe was a famous early Canadian judicial decision on abortion in Canada. The case involved Dr. Emily Stowe, one of Canada's first female doctors. Stowe was acquitted, which was a rare outcome for abortion trials in the nineteenth century.

Womens suffrage in New Zealand Womens voting rights in New Zealand

Women's suffrage in New Zealand was an important political issue in the late nineteenth century. In early colonial New Zealand, as in European societies, women were excluded from any involvement in politics. Public opinion began to change in the latter half of the nineteenth century and after years of effort by women's suffrage campaigners, led by Kate Sheppard, New Zealand became the first nation in the world in which all women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

Canadian Womens Suffrage Association

The Canadian Women's Suffrage Association, originally called the Toronto Women's Literary Guild, was an organization based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that fought for women's rights.

Augusta Stowe-Gullen

Ann Augusta Stowe-Gullen, was a Canadian medical doctor, lecturer and suffragist. She was born in Mount Pleasant, Ontario as the daughter of Emily Howard Stowe and John Fiuscia Michael Heward Stowe. A plaque regarding her work can be found in Brant County, Ontario.

The National Council of Women of Canada is a Canadian advocacy organization based in Ottawa, Ontario aimed at improving conditions for women, families, and communities. A federation of nationally-organized societies of men and women and local and provincial councils of women, it is the Canadian member of the International Council of Women (ICW). The Council has concerned itself in areas including women's suffrage, immigration, health care, education, mass media, the environment, and many others. Formed on October 27, 1893 in Toronto, Ontario, it is one of the oldest advocacy organizations in the country. Lady Aberdeen was elected the first president of the National Council of Women of Canada in 1893. Prominent Council leaders included Lady Gzowski, Dr. Augusta Stowe-Gullen, and Adelaide Hoodless.

Gina Krog

Jørgine Anna Sverdrup"Gina" Krog was a Norwegian suffragist, teacher, liberal politician, writer and editor. She played a central role in the Norwegian women's movement from the 1880s until her death, notably as a leading campaigner for women's right to vote. In 1884, Krog co-founded the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights with liberal MP Hagbart Berner. Over the next two decades, Krog co-founded the Women's Voting Association, the National Association for Women's Suffrage, and the Norwegian National Women's Council, spearheading the presentation of women's suffrage proposals to the Storting. Krog wrote articles and gave speeches, travelling throughout Europe and North America to attend international women's rights conferences. She was editor of the Norwegian feminist periodical Nylænde from 1887 until her death in 1916. She was an early member of the Liberal Party and served as a deputy member of its national board.

Sarah Anne Curzon

Sarah Anne Curzon née Vincent was a British-born Canadian poet, journalist, editor, and playwright who was one of "the first women's rights activists and supporters of liberal feminism" in Canada. During her lifetime, she was best known for her closet drama, Laura Secord: The Heroine of 1812, "one of the works that made Laura Secord a household name."

Womens suffrage in Canada History of womens right to vote in Canada

Women's suffrage in Canada occurred at different times in different jurisdictions and at different times to different demographics of women. Women's right to vote began in the three prairie provinces. In 1916, suffrage was given to women in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. The federal government granted limited war-time suffrage to some women in 1917, and followed with full suffrage in 1918. By the close of 1922, all the Canadian provinces, except Quebec, had granted full suffrage to White and Black women. Newfoundland, at that time a separate country, granted women suffrage in 1925. Women in Quebec did not receive full suffrage until 1940.

Florence Brooks Whitehouse

Florence Brooks Whitehouse was an American suffragist, activist and novelist from Maine. In 2008, Whitehouse was inducted to the Maine Women's Hall of Fame. She was an early feminist who was considered radical for her support of Alice Paul and the tactics of the National Women's Party.

Ellis Meredith

Ellis Meredith (1865–1955) was an American suffragist, journalist, and novelist, known as the Susan B. Anthony of Colorado.

Womens Art Association of Canada

The Women's Art Association of Canada (WAAC) is an organization founded in 1887 to promote and support women artists and craftswomen in Canada, including artists in the visual media, performance artists and writers. At one time it had almost 1,000 members. Although smaller today, it still plays an active role in fundraising and providing scholarships for young artists.

Maternal feminism

Maternal feminism is the belief of many early feminists that women as mothers and caregivers had an important but distinctive role to play in society and in politics. It incorporates reform ideas from social feminism, and combines the concepts of maternalism and feminism. It was a widespread philosophy among well-to-do women in the British Empire, particularly Canada, from the late 19th century until after World War I (1914–18). The concept was attacked by later feminists as accepting the paternalist view of society and providing an excuse for inequality.

Gertrude Richardson

Gertrude Richardson was an English-born pacifist, feminist and socialist who was prominent in the fight for women's rights in Manitoba, Canada before World War I (1914–18). During the war she became disillusioned with the women's movement, since many of its members supported the fighting. She suffered from recurrent physical and mental illness after the war, and ended her life in a mental hospital.

Jessie Turnbull

Jessie Turnbull or Jessie McEwen was a Canadian woman's rights activist. It was said that if the public were asked to name which "woman who has done most to shape...Canada ...[no] name would stand higher than that of Jessie Turnbull McEwen".

Emily Burton Ketcham

Emily Burton Ketcham was an American suffragist

Charlotte Ives Cobb Godbe Kirby

Charlotte Ives Cobb Kirby was an influential and radical women's rights activist and temperance advocate in the state of Utah as well as a well-known national figure. Charlotte was born in Massachusetts and at six-years old moved to Utah with her mother as new members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, her mother later becoming Brigham Young's fifth plural wife. Charlotte, previously a plural wife herself, spoke out against polygamy and gained much opposition from polygamous women suffragists because of it. Her first marriage was to William S. Godbe, the leader of the Godbeite offshoot from the LDS Church. After divorcing Godbe, Kirby married John Kirby, a non-LDS man, and they were together until Charlotte's death in 1908. Charlotte was a leading figure of the Utah Territory Woman Suffrage Association, and served as a correspondent to the government and other suffragist organizations, including the National Women's Suffrage Association. Charlotte often traveled to the East Coast to deliver lectures regarding women's rights and temperance, the first Utah woman and the first woman with voting rights to speak to national suffragist audiences. Charlotte Ives Cobb Kirby died on January 24, 1908, at age 71 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Flora MacDonald Denison Canadian suffragist (b. 1867, d. 1921)

Flora MacDonald Denison (1867-1921) was a Canadian activist, journalist, and businesswoman known for her leadership in the Canadian suffragist movement and her stewardship of Bon Echo Provincial Park in Ontario.

References

Citations

  1. "Women's Suffrage | The Canadian Encyclopedia". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
  2. "Emily Stowe MD | Canadian Medical Hall of Fame". www.cdnmedhall.org. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Dr. Emily Howard Stowe, Archives Canada.
  4. McLeod 1999, p. 38.
  5. Freeman 1989, p. 52.
  6. 1 2 3 Freeman 1989, p. 60.
  7. Lalonde 2014.
  8. The History of Women’s Suffrage in Canada.
  9. Key Achievements, NCWC.
  10. Griffiths 1993, p. 21.
  11. 1 2 Emily Jennings Stowe and Augusta ...
  12. Freeman 1989, p. 136.
  13. Epperly & Gammel 1999, p. 143.

Sources