Women and Work in Canada - Womens Experiences in Non-traditional Occupations

EMPOWERING WOMEN IN CANADA

The end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century was the whole new world for woman when she embellished herself into new vistas of the Industrialization and technological developments . For the Canadian Women , there was gambit of new routes on which they could activate their suppressed desires and fulfill all their ambitious propositions . Efforts of the Feminist movement began to bore fruit when women left behind the traditional sectors and entered into the non-traditional sectors like Industries and service sectors . Along with gaining equality and

Justice , their life style too changed and the result was for every body to see

October 18 , 1929 was the landmark in the history of women when the Privy Council announced that according to the law , women would be considered as Persons . Since then , Canada celebrates October 18 , as Women 's History Month in Canada . Its history goes back to 1867 when the British North America Act (BNA Act ) was passed , which used the word persons to denote more than one person and particularly to a male . In 1876 , there was a ruling by the British Common Law , which stated "Women are persons in matters of pains and penalties , but are not persons in matters of rights and privileges (About .com , Canada Online . When in 1916 Social Activists , Emily Murphy was appointed as the first woman police magistrate in Alberta , her appointment was considered illegal , as she was not person under the BNA Act . In 1917 , the Alberta Supreme Court passed the judgment that women were persons , but this ruling was only confined within the province of Alberta but when Emily Murphy went forward to put her name as candidature for the Senate at the federal level of government , Canadian Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden refused as again she was not a person under the BNA Act . For many years Feminist groups kept on sending petitions . In 1927 , Emily Murphy sent an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada and along with her four most influential Alberta women 's rights activists , also known as the Famous Five , signed a petition to the Senate , seeking answer to the question "Does the word "persons " in Section 24 , of The British North America Act , 1867 , include female persons " These four persons were Henrietta Muir Edwards , Nellie McClung , Louise McKinney , and Irene Parlby (Alberta Centennial , The Famous Five and the Persons Case , online edition , but the Supreme Court rejected their appeal mentioning that persons should be physically fit and qualified and therefore only men are entitled for the post

Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King along with the Famous Five sent an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada . At last , on 18th October 1929 , Lord Sankey , Lord Chancellor of the Privy Council , gave its historical judgment Yes , women are persons . and eligible to be summoned and may become Members of the Senate of Canada (About .com Persons case . The Privy Council decision also said "that the exclusion of women from all public offices...