Canada: Uneven Paths to Suffrage and Women’s Electoral Participation

Abstract

Janovicek and Thomas explore how Canadian federalism and colonialism structure women’s suffrage and electoral participation. Though some Canadian women—notably, white women on the Prairies—were granted the vote relatively early in the twentieth century, the vote was delayed for women in Quebec, women who are racial minorities, and Indigenous women. The authors argue that these disparities in suffrage rights are the legacy of colonial policies, which focused on the assimilation of Indigenous peoples, and the exclusive suffrage movement, which denied the vote to some racialized immigrant groups to the benefit of white, Anglophone, Protestant women. And, though more than 100 years has passed since the first women were granted the right to vote, gender, race, and Indigenous status continue to structure women’s electoral participation in contemporary Canadian politics.