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Come on! You made it just in time! We heard some really great news –Women are Persons!
That is good news, but I’m sure you already knew that. Of course women are Persons. It’s
not as if they are some kind of aliens from outer space or something. But, you see this
group of five women? To them, this is really great news and they’re celebrating! This
group is called the Famous Five, and it is because of them that women today can be involved
in politics. If you look at the clothes they’re wearing, it’s pretty obvious that they lived
quite a bit before our time. Actually, it was about the same time as my great-great-grandfather.
Way before television was even invented. They lived in the nineteen twenties. These five
women all lived out west, in Alberta. They got together to write a petition because they
thought it was unfair that women did not have the same rights as men. Can you imagine that
it was written in some law that women were not persons? What? I know! It sounds kind
of crazy. What it meant was that women were considered not qualified to serve as a senator
or even work in politics. It’s kind of complicated, but if I tell you a little about each of the
five women, I think you’ll understand why they are here on Parliament Hill. First, it
is important to know that all five women were devoted to the same causes. Improving living
conditions of women and children and fighting for women to have the same rights as men.
See the woman raising her tea cup? That’s Henrietta Muir Edwards, when she was young
she studied painting and even exhibited her art, but over time, her sense of justice grew
even stronger than her artistic sense, and she spent the rest of her life fighting for
women’s rights. She still continued to paint though and she loved to play chess and take
photos. But her greatest ambition was to achieve equal rights for women. Standing right beside
her, the one wearing glasses, is Louise McKinney. When she was young, she dreamed of becoming
a doctor, but she became a teacher instead. She was the first woman in Canada to be elected
to the legislative assembly. Representing the people of her province, Alberta, and defending
their rights, especially the rights of women. The woman holding the newspaper, showing the
news to everyone is Nellie McClung. She was also a teacher. She wanted to work in politics,
but women weren’t allowed to when she was young. She also wanted to be a writer, so
she took up writing. She wrote a total of fifteen novels and became a very popular author.
Much later, she also achieved her dream of being able to work in politics. Beside her
is Irene Parlby. She was born in England and she had lived in India before moving to Canada.
When she was younger, she liked to write plays and act on stage, but she was more dedicated
to bettering the lives of women and children. Later on, she was the first woman to become
a government minister in Alberta, and was able to do even more to help women and children.
The fifth woman is Emily Murphy. She’s the one that brought the group of five together.
She was a writer and a journalist and later became a judge. She was the one who happened
upon the law that stated that women could not be considered as persons in politics.
So she asked Henrietta, Louise, Nellie and Irene to help her change the law. It was a
very old and well-established law, and they had to fight really hard to win. But they
didn’t give up and finally they won! See? I told you that they were celebrating really
great news!