Women's Suffrage in the Prairies

Women’s suffrage was first achieved in the Prairie Provinces in 1916, with Manitoba in the lead and Alberta and Saskatchewan following closely behind. In 1919, all Canadian women above twenty-one years of age were eligible to vote in federal elections. The fact that women’s voting rights were first recognized in the prairie provinces can be attributed to three main factors, the first being that suffragists in the prairies held more moderate views than their eastern counterparts, upholding maternal feminist views that were less threatening to the government; another element is their approaches in advocating for their cause, which were also peaceful and more temperate compared to suffragist movements in other parts; lastly, for various reasons, men in the prairies were already relatively supportive of women’s suffrage.
Women's Suffrage in the Prairies

Cindy Zhou

Grade 11

West Vancouver Secondary School
West Vancouver, British Columbia

I have always been passionate about women's rights and saw this essay as an opportunity to investigate women's suffrage in Canada.

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