When Women Couldn’t Vote: Federal Elections and Canadian History by Dr. Donica Belisle

Canadian voter turnout in the last federal election was 61%. Certainly the people who, 100 years ago, fought for women’s right to vote would have been appalled. To them, voting was a crucial democratic right, one that guaranteed equal standing in Canadian society. In this lecture, we will explore Canadian women’s fight for the vote. We will also ask: why were so many Canadians against women’s suffrage? Finally, we will see that although the Canadian state granted most women the right to vote in 1918, it continued to withhold that right from men and women of First Nations and Asian heritages. Professor Donica Belisle is a specialist in Canadian gender history. She is the author of Retail Nation: Department Stores and the Making of Modern Canada (UBC Press, 2011) and several articles on gender and consumer culture. She is fascinated by how Canadian gender roles have changed over time, and has spent far too many hours in the archives exploring this topic.

More information at: http://www.uregina.ca/events/when-women-couldnt-vote