Technolandy

Day 20 (of 2026/27) October is also #womenshistorymonth

Canada designated October as Women’s History Month in 1992 to coincide with Persons Day on October 18. 

Persons Day is when women were legally considered “qualified persons”

And could be appointed to elected roles

And schools

And careers

Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, Erene Parlby, and Henrietta muir Edwards made up the “Famous Five” who enriched the fight for equality that had many champions ahead of time…

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We call it Women’s History Month.

But whose history are we telling?

The women who broke the barriers?

The women who were allowed through them?

The women who were still standing outside?

October isn’t just about remembering what women accomplished.

It’s about noticing who was missing from the story.

And maybe asking who is missing from it now.

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So for now, remember:

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1645: Jeanne Mance established the Hotel-Dieu in Montreal

1853: Mary Ann Shadd Cary published The Provincial Feeman 

1867: Emily Stowe becomes the first Canadian woman physician to practice medicine

1875: Grace Annie Lockhart is the first woman to receive a degree from a Canadian university

1903: Emma Barker is the first woman to receive a PhD from a Canadian university

1916: Manitoba is the first Canadian province to extend the provincial franchise to women 

1917: Louise McKinney & Roberta MacAdams are the first women elected to a provincial legislature in the British Empire

1918: some but not all women gain federal voting rights

1921: Agnes Mcphail is the first woman elected to Canada’s federal Parliament

1927: Famous Five ask whether women are included as “persons” under the BNA (British North America) Act

1929: the Persons Case – the privy council overturns the Supreme Court interpretation and established that women can be appointed to the senate

1941: more than 45000 women volunteers serve in full time roles in the Canadian Women’s Army Corps in roles other than nursing

1954: Elsie Knott is the first woman elected chief of a First Nations community in Canada (note that pre-I**** Act; there had been many female chiefs)

.1960: First Nations women gain right to vote in federal elections without surrendering status/treaty rights

1967: Royal commission examining women’s status and inequality in Canada

1971: Labour Code amendments prohibit sex and marital-status discrimination; target equal-pay provisions and federal maternity leave

1979: Nellie J Cournoyea is the first Indigenous woman to lead a Canadian provincial/territorial government

1981: Equality rights enter the charter – 1985, section 15 comes into force

1983: Jeanne Sauve is the first woman to hold the position of Governor General

1987: Women permitted in RCAF combat roles

1992: Roberta Bondar is the first Canadian woman in space

1992: October becomes Women’s History Month

1993: Jean Augustine is the first black Canadian woman elected to the House of Commons

1993: Kim Campbell becomes the first woman Prime Minister of Canada

2005: Same sex marriage legalized nation-wide

2015: first gender-balanced federal cabinet

2015: National Inquiry into MMIWG (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls)

2017: Gender identity/expression added to Canadian Human Rights Act

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And now wonder: who will make history next?