Subjective Factors
1.
The first to identify the social problem of women's legal rights was obviously the women. They formed groups and organizations, enabling them to fight for their rights as a whole. Such groups included the National Council of Women of Canada, which covered many aspects of Women's rights, even partially forming many other Women's organizations, and the Famous Five (formerly known as the Valiant Five). Each of these five women was also part of other women's groups. Both of these groups addressed and dealt with many issues surrounding women’s legal rights.
2.
In the early 20th century, Emily Murphy was travelling with her husband when she met a woman whose husband had sold their farm. This woman was left homeless because she had no warning-back then a husband could sell his family’s house without any consent from his wife. He left her with their children, no money and no home. Emily was outraged. It was this encounter that made her determined to help, which resulted in the Dower Act, passed in 1917 4.
In her Farm and Ranch Review article titled “Now That We Are Persons”, Nellie McClung quoted an interpretation of English law, stating that “women are persons in matters of pains and penalties! Women are not persons in matters of rights and privileges”. This article was published in January of 1930, two and a half months after women gained legal personhood in Canada (October 18, 1929). She also wrote that after the Lords of the Privy Council made their decision to include women as ‘persons’, there were many remarks made in “biting sarcasm of the honourable Lords’ decision” because women were shocked about the fact that they were not included as persons. Nellie McClung thought they were wrong to do so, they should respect the Lords for their decision because they solved the problem, while women were reacting as if it was these men who first decreed women’s legal personhood to be non-existent. The reason why Ms. McClung thought that these men were honourable (“hang Lord Sankey’s picture on the wall of the Community Rest Room, with Newton Wesley Rowell’s beside it. And let those names […] be kept in perpetual and grateful remembrance”) was because they had helped the women. They helped women out of a problem that Nellie had had enough of, with her constantly being asked “what does [your husband] think of…all this?” when she would speak about women’s rights 5.
3.
The government is mostly responsible for not allowing women equal legal rights as men. During the formation of the British North America Act of 167, women were not included as ‘persons’. This was discovered by women in 1928 when the government said that indeed, the rights indicated by the British North America Act were not meant to be held by women, in what Nellie McClung believed to be a correct interpretation (McClung 1930). While many women blamed the government, Nellie and the rest of the Famous Five went to them for reform, understanding that this was a mistake made too long ago to blame anyone for now. They won the battle; the term ‘persons’ has referred to both women and men equally in the Constitution since October 18th, 1929. The government even admitted to being responsible for the inequality in the Constitution, saying that it was "a relic of days more barbarous than ours." 6.
The first to identify the social problem of women's legal rights was obviously the women. They formed groups and organizations, enabling them to fight for their rights as a whole. Such groups included the National Council of Women of Canada, which covered many aspects of Women's rights, even partially forming many other Women's organizations, and the Famous Five (formerly known as the Valiant Five). Each of these five women was also part of other women's groups. Both of these groups addressed and dealt with many issues surrounding women’s legal rights.
2.
In the early 20th century, Emily Murphy was travelling with her husband when she met a woman whose husband had sold their farm. This woman was left homeless because she had no warning-back then a husband could sell his family’s house without any consent from his wife. He left her with their children, no money and no home. Emily was outraged. It was this encounter that made her determined to help, which resulted in the Dower Act, passed in 1917 4.
In her Farm and Ranch Review article titled “Now That We Are Persons”, Nellie McClung quoted an interpretation of English law, stating that “women are persons in matters of pains and penalties! Women are not persons in matters of rights and privileges”. This article was published in January of 1930, two and a half months after women gained legal personhood in Canada (October 18, 1929). She also wrote that after the Lords of the Privy Council made their decision to include women as ‘persons’, there were many remarks made in “biting sarcasm of the honourable Lords’ decision” because women were shocked about the fact that they were not included as persons. Nellie McClung thought they were wrong to do so, they should respect the Lords for their decision because they solved the problem, while women were reacting as if it was these men who first decreed women’s legal personhood to be non-existent. The reason why Ms. McClung thought that these men were honourable (“hang Lord Sankey’s picture on the wall of the Community Rest Room, with Newton Wesley Rowell’s beside it. And let those names […] be kept in perpetual and grateful remembrance”) was because they had helped the women. They helped women out of a problem that Nellie had had enough of, with her constantly being asked “what does [your husband] think of…all this?” when she would speak about women’s rights 5.
3.
The government is mostly responsible for not allowing women equal legal rights as men. During the formation of the British North America Act of 167, women were not included as ‘persons’. This was discovered by women in 1928 when the government said that indeed, the rights indicated by the British North America Act were not meant to be held by women, in what Nellie McClung believed to be a correct interpretation (McClung 1930). While many women blamed the government, Nellie and the rest of the Famous Five went to them for reform, understanding that this was a mistake made too long ago to blame anyone for now. They won the battle; the term ‘persons’ has referred to both women and men equally in the Constitution since October 18th, 1929. The government even admitted to being responsible for the inequality in the Constitution, saying that it was "a relic of days more barbarous than ours." 6.