WOMEN IN THE SENATE
Embroidery credit: Janice Mellor
Design credit: Barbara Robson
There are currently 32 women sitting in the Canadian Senate, making up just over 34% of the Senate's current membership. This is one of the highest proportions of women representatives in the world.
We sit in the Senate today thanks to the efforts of five Canadian women who challenged the British Common Law ruling of 1876 that said: "Women are persons in matters of pains and penalties, but are not persons in matters of rights and privileges."
These were "The Famous Five" and in 2000 a statue in their honour was unveiled on the east lawns of Parliament Hill:
"Five Canadian women took on the Supreme Court of Canada and won a place for their own in Canada’s Senate. In 1928, the Court had ruled that women were not eligible to become senators because they were not "persons" within the meaning of the sections of the British North America Act governing Senate appointments. Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, Emily Murphy and Irene Parlby persuaded the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (U.K.), then Canada’s highest court, to overturn the decision, which it did in 1929. Canada’s first woman senator was Cairine Wilson (Ontario), appointed in 1930." (From The Senate Today.)
Since then, Canadian women have played an increasingly important role in the Senate. In 1972, New Brunswick Senator Muriel McQueen Fergusson became the first woman Speaker in the Senate and in Canada's Parliament. In 1993, Senator Joyce Fairbairn (Alberta) was named the first woman Leader of the Government in the Senate.
Manitoba Senator Sharon Carstairs became the first woman to be named Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate in 1997, and served as Leader of the Government from 2001 to December 2003.
Among the women sitting in the Senate today are scientists, journalists, business people, teachers, social activists, public servants, lawyers, and politicians, who bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to their work as Senators.
To find out more about women in the Senate and in Canada's Parliament, follow these links: