Formerly known as Nellie Moonie, this woman helped to create a different world for women around the region. She was born near Chatsworth, Ontario, in a family of farmers. Even when Nellie was a child, she wanted to explore outside the boundaries of the female life. Her mother often lectured her on how she had to be ladylike and that playing boys’ games were not “ladylike”. Soon, Nellie grew up and moved to Manitoba where she was a teacher, an occupation that woman rarely were able to be.
During her life in Manitoba, Nellie’s inspiration came from an older, more experienced woman by the name of Annie McClung who was president of a temperance union. Rapidly, Annie became Nellie’s mentor. Eager and confident to be apart of the McClung family, Nellie searched for Annie’s son, James, and wedded him. She did not want to sit around, waiting for a husband to find her.
Annie introduced the Woman’s Christian Temperance union to Nellie. This gave her a new outlook on life after failing in her past petitions for suffrage. In the 1911, Nellie began to write books about what she felt and thought was important issues that affect the world. One of her books was about alcohol, and the negative tolls it has on you. She began to discuss the abuse of alcohol in speeches. Alcohol took time away from the families since many men went to pubs after work. Mrs. McClung felt so close with the topic that she started a petition to ban alcohol. Men were obviously outraged.
As 1914 rolled around the corner, the McClung family took yet another move, this time to Edmonton, Alberta. In Alberta, Nellie continued with the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union; where she tried to win women the vote. If women had the opportunity to vote for a legislative assembly, they could have a chance in changing the laws regarding alcohol. Many of the women in the group became suffragists as Nellie had planted new ideas into their head.
During some point in her life, Nellie and a group of other woman performed a play that displayed life in a different perspective. The actors played women who had real jobs and positions in the Parliament. The roles were opposite from real life. Men stayed at home and took care of the household duties while the woman went out and brought home the money. In the play, men were trying to persuade the government to allow men to vote. This reached a wide audience, giving them something to think about.
As 1916 came along, Winnipeg made it official that women were now allowed to vote but Nellie was not in the province at the time to witness it. That same year, Saskatchewan and Alberta won the right as well.
In Alberta; 1921, Nellie was surprisingly elected a Liberal member of the Alberta Legislature. She served five years but soon left after losing an election. She felt that she was making hardly any differences in peoples’ lives. Her suggestions and opinions about temperance were overlooked.
Nellie McClung never gave up on the women issues. Emily Murphy, a woman with the same views as Nellie, was appointed judge in Edmonton, a first for women history. As she approached the bench to analyze the first case, she was not allowed to even touch the bench because women were not persons. “Women could vote and run for office, but they were ineligible for the Senate because the word ‘persons’ in the British North America Act was interpreted to refer only to men,” from collections.ic.gc.ca. Nellie joined with Emily three other women, as they fought for the acknowledgement that woman deserved. They fought long and hard in court and on streets. Eventually, the government crumbled and declared that women were “persons”.
Nellie McClung was an inspiring person for woman all around the country, and even the world. She stood up for what she believed in, even if she was standing all alone. Her life was an accomplishment in itself for she has brought a new perspective to women and men as well. With her help, women gained the right to vote in a political situation, were finally considered persons under the Constitutional Act, and have helped shaped Canada in what it is today. |
