80 Years ago this Sunday, women were declared ‘persons’ in Canada.
Detail of the maquette of the statue of the Famous Five, which depicts their reaction on hearing of the judgement of the Privy Council in Great Britain declaring women ‘persons’, and eligible to sit in the Senate. Courtesy of the Famous 5 Foundation, Calgary, Alberta. Photo by Mark Mennie.
The larger than life bronzes, sculpted by Barbara Paterson of Edmonton, and donated to the Government of Canada by the Famous 5 Foundation (www.famous5.org), honour Emily Murphy, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Louise McKinney, Irene Parlby and Nellie McClung. The work depicts them as they might have appeared on hearing the news of the Privy Council’s ruling. Standing behind an empty chair, Emily Murphy, with a triumphant gesture beckons to visitors, men and women equally, to have a place at this celebration of a new day for women in Canada.
An empty chair adds an interactive feature to the monument that invites passers-by to join the group. The newspaper with the headline “Women are Persons” that Nellie McClung is holding reflects some of the actual headlines of newspapers of the day.
THE FAMOUS FIVE: WHO THEY WERE (from left to right on the picture, source: National Archives of Canada)
Nellie L. McClung (1873-1951), novelist, journalist, suffragette and temperance worker. She was a member of the Alberta legislature, the only woman on the Dominion War Council, and the first woman on the CBC Board of Governors.
Irene Parlby (1868-1965), suffragette and politician. She was elected president of the women’s branch of the United Farmers of Alberta in 1916 and became a member of the Alberta legislature in 1921. She was still a member of Parliament at the time of the Persons Case.
Emily G. Murphy (1868-1933), instigator of the Persons Case, writer, and first woman magistrate in the British Empire. She pioneered married women’s rights, was National President of the Canadian Women’s Press Club 1913-1920, vice-president of the National Council of Women and first president of the Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada. [In 1916, Judge Emily Murphy had sentenced a bootlegger but his attorney challenged her ruling on the grounds that she was not a "person" and occupied her office legally (see Neal, 2006, p. 130)]
Henrietta Muir Edwards, (1849-1931), journalist, suffragist and organizer, fought for equal rights for wives, mothers’ allowances and women’s rights. She started the Working Girls’ Association in Montréal in 1875, a forerunner of the YWCA. Later, while living in Alberta, she compiled two works on Alberta and federal laws affecting women and children.
Louise McKinney (1868-1931), politician and temperance campaigner. She was president of the Dominion Women’s Christian Union and elected to the Alberta legislature in 1917 as representative of the non-partisan league.
