Compulsory Sterilization in Canada Since the 20th Century

Compulsory sterilization is a term used for federal or state/provincial government issued programs with the intent to sterilize specific groups and populations. Most commonly these populations are composed of racial minorities, specific religious groups, the mentally disabled, the physically disabled, people in poverty, immigrants, prostitutes, and Indigenous peoples. Compulsory sterilization is often associated with eugenics, … Read more

Suffrage Movement in the United States and Britain

In regard to the British Suffrage Movement, similarly to The Civil Rights Movement, collective action and common purpose is also displayed. The NUWSS, the suffragists, led by Millicent Fawcett were a non-violent group that focused on lobbying members of Parliament to bring about legislative changes while the more aggressive WSPU, the suffragettes, led by Emmeline … Read more

Maria Goeppert-Mayer

“Winning the prize wasn’t half as exciting as doing the work itself,” said German physicist and mathematician, Maria Goeppert-Mayer. Elucidated, this quote states the known facts about how the work is always the best part of experimenting. The prize initially tells everyone the correct answer to this equation has been found and who solved it … Read more

Female participation in the British labour force

Few historians would disagree that World War I brought about a dramatic increase in the female participation in the British labour force in the early 1910’s. The percentage of women in the total number of people employed rose from 24% in July 1914 to 37% in November 1918; that is, two million women were estimated … Read more

Emmeline Pankhurst

This source has been extracted from the memoirs of a well- known suffragette, Emmeline Pankhurst . It covers the subject of militancy within the suffragette movement in the nineteenth century, by discussing the letter burning protests. This was a time in which women felt, was completely male dominated and therefore, they began to stand up … Read more

How women got the right to vote

In 1918, the Representation of the people act gave women over the age of 30 who owned land, were married to a land owner or were in local government the right to vote. In the 19th century women were treated poorly in comparison to men and were expected to lead different lives. Very few women … Read more

The women’s rights movement

The women’s rights movement of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries unified women around a number of issues that were seen as fundamental rights for all citizens; they included: the right to own property, access to higher education, reproductive rights, and women’s suffrage. Feminism is clearly stated as, “the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis … Read more

Advancing equality for women, immigrants, and African Americans

Through activism, war, and forced exposure, freedom expanded to more groups during the Abolition of Slavery and the Progressive Era because conflict was the engine of progress to create social change during these moments in American history. Women, immigrants, and African Americans were given more liberty during these periods due to the events that took … Read more

Women’s right to vote pre and post civil war, & the 19th amendment

The emergence of women in the political sphere heightened during the Civil War. With both the abolitionist and temperance movement gaining political momentum, women in the United States sought to further intensify political activism, shifting the attention onto themselves. The fight for suffrage stemmed from the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 ultimately elevating the women’s … Read more

Frederick Douglass, Malcolm X and Ida Wells

Civil Rights are “the rights to full legal, social, and economic equality” . Following the American Civil War, slavery was officially abolished December 6th, 1865 in the United States of America (US). The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments established a legal framework for political equality for African Americans; many thought that this would lead to equality … Read more

Gender equality and visual activism

Gender equality is seen to be when men and women are equal to one another and have the same opportunities and rights, however, when it comes to it fairness for women is not as easy as it seems. It is important to elaborate on the effects of visual activism over the past century when referring … Read more

Splits within the women’s suffrage movement

Introduction The women’s suffrage movement and the abolitionists used to work together towards the same goal: suffrage and enfranchisement, or in other words full citizenship. But after the Civil war there was a split both within the women’s movement and between the abolitionists and the woman’s suffrage movement. Part of the women’s movement gave up … Read more