Perhaps not an immediate visible “fashion” changer, the women were dressed in the fashion of the day, but I feel I would be remiss in not mentioning this topic. It’s effect, however, along with the many other tumultuous events of the period, would be soon be seen in the coming fashion.
“Suffrage: the right of women to vote in political elections; campaigns for this right generally included demand for the right to run for public office.”
By 1900, propertied women had won some voting rights — including the right to vote and to stand for office in some municipal council, library and school board elections.
Federal authorities first granted a limited female franchise in 1917. In 1918, this was expanded to include most* women.
*Asian women and men were not included until after the Second World War. Most Indigenous women and men were viewed as wards of the Crown under the Indian Act, and were excluded from the vote across Canada, except in rare cases, until 1960.
“Canadian Nursing Sisters in France vote in the 1917 election. The Wartime Election Act (1917) enfranchised women serving in the military, as well as those with a father, brother, or son overseas. The war hastened female suffrage at the federal level.”
Canadian War Museum
George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM 19930013-578
Getting the vote:
| 20/09/1917 | National Female relatives of any person in the military who was serving or served with Canada or Great Britain during the First World War. Also women serving in the military. |
| 24/05/1918 | National “Women who are British subjects, 21 years of age, and otherwise meet the qualifications entitling a man to vote, are entitled to vote in a Dominion election.” |
| 28/01/1916 | Manitoba |
| 14/05/1916 | Saskatchewan |
| 19/04/1916 | Alberta |
| 5/04/1917 | British Columbia |
| 12/04/1917 | Ontario |
| 26/04/1918 | Nova Scotia |
| 17/04/1919 | New Brunswick |
| 20/05/1919 | Yukon |
| 3/05/1922 | Prince Edward Island |
| 03/04/1925 | Newfoundland and Labrador |
| 25/04/1940 | Québec |
| 15/06/1948 | End of Asian exclusions |
| 12/06/1951 | Inuit |
| 31/03/1960 | First Nations |
chart from: http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca
