How Did Nellie Mcclung Change Society

Throughout her life, Nellie McClung strove to improve the quality of life not just for women but for all Canadians. Her goals to achieve recognition and acceptance for women who traditionally had been denied a role in the institutions and organizations which governed both Canadian politics and culture made her a revolutionary feminist. Through her support of female suffrage, prohibition, the persons case, and the representation of women in the workforce, McClung's efforts brought forth change in Canadian society.

To start off, Nellie McClung started her journey to change history in 1897, when she joined the W.C.T.U (Women’s Christian Temperance Union) in Manitou. The purpose of the W.C.T.U was to fight the abuse of alcohol, as it implied that

24). This radical activism recognized the temperance movement, which protected women from drunk husbands beginning to become abusive. This was also a start to bringing women equal rights. Prohibition allowed women to stand up to the government and speak out about the unjust treatment they received from men. Temperance was one of the first movements that allowed women to actively organize and participate in public politics. Nellie McClung was involved in the temperance movement and soon became involved in the women’s suffrage movement because she realized the lack of voice women had in reagards to national issues. McClung began to recognize that women's rights were restricted in other areas of social life as well. As the temperance movement came to an end, Nellie McClung continued on her journey for equal rights by joining a group of men and women activists to find the Political Equality League in 1912. Nellie took a leading role in the Manitoba election campaigning against Sir Rodmond Roblin’s Conservative Party which had refused women’s suffrage. The campaign included the mock

Women in Canada could not be appointed to the Canadian Senate because they were not considered to be “persons” under the BNA Act. Section 24 of the BNA Act stated that “only qualified persons” could be appointed to the Senate. “Nellie was one of five women gathered on Emily Murphy’s veranda that hazy day in August 1927, to discuss petitioning the federal government about the meaning of Section 24. There was an obvious and simple way for them to pose their question: did the word “persons” in that clause include female persons”(Our Nell: A Scrapbook Biography of Nellie L. McClung pg.177). The answer they received was that the word persons did not include female persons. The five women involved were Irene Parlby, Louise McKinney, Henrietta Muir Edwards, McClung, and Murphy. However, the women did not stop there. They turned to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in England which was Canada’s final Court of Appeal at the time. On October 18, 1929, the legal struggle ended with a landmark decision that legally recognized women as “persons” under the British North America Act. Nellie said, “— the finding of the Privy Council that we are “persons” once and for all, will do so much to merge us into the human family.” (Our Nell: A Scrapbook Biography of Nellie L. McClung pg. 178). The Persons Case opened the Senate to women. Moreover, the legal recognition of women as