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Franchises lost and gained: post-coloniality and the development of women’s rights in Canada

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-12, 08:47 authored by Charlotte SkeetCharlotte Skeet
The Canadian constitution is to some extent characterised by its focus on equality, and in particular gender equality. This development of women’s rights in Canada and the greater engagement of women as political actors is often presented as a steady linear process, moving forwards from post-enlightenment modernity. This article seeks to disturb this ‘discourse of the continuous,’ by using an analysis of the pre-confederation history of suffrage in Canada to both refute a simplistic linear view of women’s rights development and to argue for recognition of the Indigenous contribution to the history of women’s rights in Canada. The gain of franchise and suffrage movements in Canada in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century are, rightly, the focus of considerable study (Pauker 2015), This article takes an alternative perspective. Instead, it examines the exercise of earlier franchises in pre-confederation Canada. In particular it analyses why franchise was exercised more widely in Lower Canada and relates this to the context of the removal of franchises from women prior to confederation.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Perspectives On Federalism

ISSN

2036-5438

Publisher

De Gruyter Open

Issue

3

Volume

9

Page range

160-193

Department affiliated with

  • Law Publications

Research groups affiliated with

  • Sussex Centre for Human Rights Research Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2017-12-14

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2017-12-14

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2017-12-14

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