Women Get the Vote

At the time of Confederation, the vote in Canada was limited to property-owning adult white males.

The effort by women to achieve the right to vote is known as the women's suffrage movement. Its founder in Canada was Dr. Emily Stowe, the first Canadian woman to practise medicine in Canada. In 1916, Manitoba became the first province to grant voting rights to women.

In 1917, thanks to the leadership of women such as Dr. Stowe and other suffragettes, the federal government was forced to give women the right to vote in federal elections -- first to nurses at the battle front, then to women who were related to men in active wartime service.

In 1918, most Canadian female citizens over 21 won the right to vote in federal elections.

.