Voting Day

It's federal election day here in Canada.   Over the past few weeks the parties running have bickered and toured and tried to win voters over with issues and promises.   It's difficult to burrow through all of the rhetoric and to decide what is actually best for the country but that will not stop me from showing up to the polling station.   I feel very strongly that we, as women, cannot let down people like Nellie McClung and the Valiant Five who fought for our rights to be regarded and treated as people.  Here is an excerpt from "Canadian Encyclopedia" on this great woman:

In 1911 the McClungs and their 4 children moved to Winnipeg, where their fifth child was born. The Winnipeg women's rights and reform movement welcomed Nellie as an effective speaker who won audiences with humorous arguments. She played a leading role in the 1914 Liberal campaign against Sir Rodmond ROBLIN's Conservative government, which had refused women suffrage, but moved to Edmonton before the Liberals won in Manitoba in 1915. In Alberta she continued the fight for female suffrage and for PROHIBITION, dower rights for women, factory safety legislation and many other reforms. She gained wide prominence from addresses in Britain at the Methodist Ecumenical Conference and elsewhere (1921) and from speaking tours throughout Canada and the US, and was a Liberal MLA for Edmonton, 1921-26. 

Forgotten for a decade, she was rediscovered by feminists in the 1960s. Although some criticized her maternalistic support of the traditional family structure, most credited her with advancing the feminist cause in her day and recognizing the need for further progress such as the economic independence of women.