National Council of Women of Canada
Encyclopedia
The National Council of Women of Canada (NWCW, , (CNFC)) is a Canadian
advocacy organization based in Ottawa
aimed at improving conditions for women, families, and communities. A federation
of nationally-organized societies of men and women and local and provincial councils of women, it is the Canadian member of the International Council of Women
(ICW). The Council has concerned itself in areas including women's suffrage
, immigration
, health care
, education
, mass media
, the environment
, and many others. Formed on October 27, 1857 in Toronto, Ontario, it is one of the oldest advocacy organizations in the country. Lady Aberdeen
was elected the first president of the National Council of Women of Canada in 1893. Prominent Council leaders included Lady Gzowski, Dr. Augusta Stowe-Gullen
, and Adelaide Hoodless
.
. By May 1893, the IWC World's Congress of Representative Women had met in Chicago
and discussed creating a Canadian Council. The Council formally began its existence on October 27 at a public meeting at the Horticultural Pavilion of the Allen Gardens in Toronto
. Over 1,500 women attended the meeting, which was chaired by Lady Aberdeen
, wife of then-Governor General
John Campbell Hamilton-Gordon, 7th Earl of Aberdeen. Lady Aberdeen served as the Council's first president until her resignation in 1899; she was succeeded by Lady Taylor.
The organization has sent representatives to government boards and international bodies such as the League of Nations
. The Council played a key role in creating the Victorian Order of Nurses
, the Children's Aid Society
, and the Canadian Association of Consumers. It has also played a role in developing the Women's Bureau of Labour Canada, the Federal Bureau on Ageing, and supported the call for the Royal Commission on the Status of Women
, which created the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women.
One of the Council's early causes was its fight for women's suffrage. Although members initially showed skepticism about universal suffrage, the Council pushed onwards until 1918, when the federal government granted women the right to vote in federal elections. In 1929, The Famous Five
won Edwards v. Canada (Attorney General)
, commonly known as the "Persons case", which determined that women were "persons". Three of The Five were active members of the NCWC, and the NCWC played a vital role in winning the case.
Other causes include child welfare
measures such as preventing child abuse
, and encouraging education and good health care. General health measures include pasteurization
, clean water, and medical inspections in schools
. The Council has also fought controversial battles, such as broadening the grounds for divorce
, wider availability of birth control
information, removing abortion
from the Criminal Code
, and programs to protect and rehabilitate prostitutes.
The organization holds Consultative Status (II) with the United Nations Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC).
Several members of the Council have played prominent roles in Canadian history. Augusta Stowe-Gullen
, one of the Society's founding members, was the first woman to earn a medical degree in Canada and was an important figure in the women's suffrage movement. President Winnifred Kydd was a delegate to the League of Nations
, and in 1930, Cairine Wilson
of the Ottawa Council became the first woman to be appointed to the Senate. Each of The Famous Five (Emily Murphy
, Irene Parlby
, Nellie McClung
, Louise McKinney
, Henrietta Edwards
) were members in the organization.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
advocacy organization based in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
aimed at improving conditions for women, families, and communities. A federation
Federation
A federation , also known as a federal state, is a type of sovereign state characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government...
of nationally-organized societies of men and women and local and provincial councils of women, it is the Canadian member of the International Council of Women
International Council of Women
The International Council of Women was the first women's organization to work across national boundaries for the common cause of advocating human rights for women. In March and April 1888, women leaders came together in Washington D.C...
(ICW). The Council has concerned itself in areas including women's suffrage
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
, immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
, health care
Health care in Canada
Health care in Canada is delivered through a publicly-funded health care system, which is mostly free at the point of use and has most services provided by private entities. It is guided by the provisions of the Canada Health Act. The government assures the quality of care through federal standards...
, education
Education in Canada
Education in Canada is for the most part provided publicly, funded and overseen by federal, provincial, and local governments. Education is within provincial jurisdiction and the curriculum is overseen by the province. Education in Canada is generally divided into primary education, followed by...
, mass media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
, the environment
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
, and many others. Formed on October 27, 1857 in Toronto, Ontario, it is one of the oldest advocacy organizations in the country. Lady Aberdeen
Ishbel Hamilton-Gordon, Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair
Ishbel Maria Hamilton-Gordon, Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair, GBE was a Scottish author, philanthropist and an advocate of woman's interests.-Family:...
was elected the first president of the National Council of Women of Canada in 1893. Prominent Council leaders included Lady Gzowski, Dr. Augusta Stowe-Gullen
Augusta Stowe-Gullen
Ann Augusta Stowe-Gullen , was a medical doctor, a lecturer and a suffragist. She was the daughter of Emily Howard Stowe.She is best known for being the first woman to graduate from a Canadian medical school. Her appeal to Dr...
, and Adelaide Hoodless
Adelaide Hoodless
Adelaide Hoodless née Hunter was a Canadian educational reformer who founded the international women’s organization known as the Women's Institute....
.
Founding
The IWC was founded in 1888 in Washington D.C., United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. By May 1893, the IWC World's Congress of Representative Women had met in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and discussed creating a Canadian Council. The Council formally began its existence on October 27 at a public meeting at the Horticultural Pavilion of the Allen Gardens in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. Over 1,500 women attended the meeting, which was chaired by Lady Aberdeen
Ishbel Hamilton-Gordon, Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair
Ishbel Maria Hamilton-Gordon, Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair, GBE was a Scottish author, philanthropist and an advocate of woman's interests.-Family:...
, wife of then-Governor General
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
John Campbell Hamilton-Gordon, 7th Earl of Aberdeen. Lady Aberdeen served as the Council's first president until her resignation in 1899; she was succeeded by Lady Taylor.
Activities
The Council serves an advisory role on issues based on existing organization policy. New policies are proposed as resolutions, which are developed through grassroots discussions on the local and provincial scale and are then debated and voted upon. If they are accepted, they become policies. The organization then creates briefs (formal papers based on policy), which suggest a course of action and are submitted to an official body, such as a government.The organization has sent representatives to government boards and international bodies such as the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
. The Council played a key role in creating the Victorian Order of Nurses
Victorian Order of Nurses
The Victorian Order of Nurses is a non-profit charitable organization founded in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on January 29, 1897 created as a gift for Queen Victoria for the purposes of home care and social services. It is registered as a charity the Canada Revenue Agency, charity number...
, the Children's Aid Society
Children's Aid Society
__notoc__The Children’s Aid Society is a private charitable organization based in New York City. It serves 150,000 children per year, providing foster care, medical and mental health services, and a wide range of educational, recreational and advocacy services through dozens of community centers,...
, and the Canadian Association of Consumers. It has also played a role in developing the Women's Bureau of Labour Canada, the Federal Bureau on Ageing, and supported the call for the Royal Commission on the Status of Women
Royal Commission on the Status of Women
The Royal Commission on the Status of Women was a Canadian Royal Commission that examined the status of women and recommended steps that might be taken by the federal government to ensure equal opportunities with men and women in all aspects of Canadian society. The Commission commenced on 16...
, which created the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women.
One of the Council's early causes was its fight for women's suffrage. Although members initially showed skepticism about universal suffrage, the Council pushed onwards until 1918, when the federal government granted women the right to vote in federal elections. In 1929, The Famous Five
The Famous Five (Canada)
The Famous Five or The Valiant Five were five Canadian women who asked the Supreme Court of Canada to answer the question, "Does the word 'Persons' in Section 24 of the British North America Act, 1867, include female persons?" in the case Edwards v...
won Edwards v. Canada (Attorney General)
Edwards v. Canada (Attorney General)
Edwards v. Canada [1930] A.C. 124 – also known as the Persons Case – is a famous Canadian and British constitutional case where it was first decided that women were eligible to sit in the Canadian Senate...
, commonly known as the "Persons case", which determined that women were "persons". Three of The Five were active members of the NCWC, and the NCWC played a vital role in winning the case.
Other causes include child welfare
Child welfare
Child protection is used to describe a set of usually government-run services designed to protect children and young people who are underage and to encourage family stability...
measures such as preventing child abuse
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
, and encouraging education and good health care. General health measures include pasteurization
Pasteurization
Pasteurization is a process of heating a food, usually liquid, to a specific temperature for a definite length of time, and then cooling it immediately. This process slows microbial growth in food...
, clean water, and medical inspections in schools
School health services
School health services are services from medical, teaching and other professionals applied in or out of school to improve the health and well-being of children and in some cases whole families...
. The Council has also fought controversial battles, such as broadening the grounds for divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
, wider availability of birth control
Birth control
Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...
information, removing abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
from the Criminal Code
Criminal Code of Canada
The Criminal Code or Code criminel is a law that codifies most criminal offences and procedures in Canada. Its official long title is "An Act respecting the criminal law"...
, and programs to protect and rehabilitate prostitutes.
The organization holds Consultative Status (II) with the United Nations Economic and Social Council
United Nations Economic and Social Council
The Economic and Social Council of the United Nations constitutes one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and it is responsible for the coordination of the economic, social and related work of 14 UN specialized agencies, its functional commissions and five regional commissions...
(ECOSOC).
Notable members
Augusta Stowe-Gullen
Ann Augusta Stowe-Gullen , was a medical doctor, a lecturer and a suffragist. She was the daughter of Emily Howard Stowe.She is best known for being the first woman to graduate from a Canadian medical school. Her appeal to Dr...
, one of the Society's founding members, was the first woman to earn a medical degree in Canada and was an important figure in the women's suffrage movement. President Winnifred Kydd was a delegate to the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
, and in 1930, Cairine Wilson
Cairine Wilson
Cairine Reay Mackay Wilson was Canada's first female senator.-Early life:Born Cairine Reay Mackay in Montreal, she was the daughter of Jane Mackay and Robert Mackay, a Liberal Senator and personal friend of Sir Wilfrid Laurier. She attended Elmwood School and was "head girl" in her graduating year...
of the Ottawa Council became the first woman to be appointed to the Senate. Each of The Famous Five (Emily Murphy
Emily Murphy
Emily Murphy was a Canadian women's rights activist, jurist, and author. In 1916, she became the first woman magistrate in Canada, and in the British Empire...
, Irene Parlby
Irene Parlby
Irene Parlby was a Canadian women's farm leader, activist and politician.Born in London, England, Parlby came to Canada in 1896. In 1913, Parlby helped to found the first women's local of the United Farmers of Alberta. In 1921, she was elected to the Alberta Legislature for the riding of Lacombe,...
, Nellie McClung
Nellie McClung
Nellie McClung, born Nellie Letitia Mooney , was a Canadian feminist, politician, and social activist. She was a part of the social and moral reform movements prevalent in Western Canada in the early 1900s...
, Louise McKinney
Louise McKinney
Louise McKinney née Crummy was a provincial politician and women's rights activist from Alberta, Canada. She was the first woman sworn in to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and the first woman elected to a legislature in Canada and in the British Empire...
, Henrietta Edwards
Henrietta Edwards
Henrietta Muir Edwards was a Canadian women's rights activist and reformer.She was born Henrietta Louise Muir in Montreal. As a young woman, she espoused various feminist causes, forming the Working Girls' Association in 1875 to provide vocational training for women and editing the journal Women's...
) were members in the organization.