Women's History

Thanadelthur (Died 1717), Manitoba. © "Ambassadress of Peace" by Franklin Arbuckle / Hudson’s Bay Company Corporate Collection, ART-00036

History helps us to understand our past and guides us toward our future. It gives us heroes to emulate and puts present day issues into perspective. Our heroes originate from all walks of life, and include women as well as men.

Women's historic achievements are varied and exciting. Many of us are aware of a few heroes from the past such as Jeanne Mance, Canada's first lay nurse and founder of l'Hôtel-Dieu in Montréal and Laura Secord renowned for her brave walk during the War of 1812. But there are many others. Facing formidable odds, a few brave women such as suffragist Nellie McClung, religious community founder Marguerite Bourgeoys and Aboriginal leader, Molly Brant reached the pinnacle of achievement in male-dominated fields. They struggled against those who tried to relegate women to the home as unpaid and under-valued domestic workers... where they were denied the right to hold property in their own names ... even to have custody of their own children! These women fought for access to education, leadership roles in public institutions, the franchise, and full participation in the workforce and public life. By their brave example they demonstrated - in the school, in the sports arenas and elsewhere - that women were not intellectually nor physically inferior. In doing so, they paved the way for later generations to follow.

Historians are now coming to understand that, in addition to these inspiring heroes of the past who fought for women's equality, there were many, many more women who worked within their communities, families, churches and organizations to make a better Canada. These women came from First Nations communities, ethnocultural communities as well as the Canadian mainstream. They built networks of public libraries and other cultural institutions and spearheaded campaigns to preserve heritage sites and parks. In education, women were instrumental in founding religious and secular schools, kindergartens and parent-teacher organizations. Religious women quietly and competently ran hospitals, taught the young and nursed the sick and needy. Facing enemy attack alongside the soldiers who fought in the South African War, the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War, women nurses and ambulance drivers -- some decorated as heroes -- found the courage to provide care to the dying and injured. These women, too, can make us proud.

You can learn more about women such as these -- women who came from varied backgrounds: French, English, First Nations and ethnocultural communities. They all have one thing in common: they provided leadership in the building of Canada. Women have a history, and it is a history worth remembering and celebrating!