http://www.democraticunderground.com/1255273
http://www.biographyonline.net/people/women-who-changed-world.html
One of the Famous Five is included in the list:
22. Emily Murphy 1868-1933
Emily Murphy was the first women magistrate in the British Empire. In 1927 she joined forces with 4 other Canadian women who sought to challenge an old Canadian law that said, “women should not be counted as persons”
Too bad they got that so wrong (and it's now been spread all over the danged internet). I think whoever wrote that was thinking of this bit of the US Constitution about counting persons:
Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.
The 1867
British North America Act, now the
Constitution Act, 1867, actually said:
23. The Qualifications of a Senator shall be as follows: ...
24. The Governor General shall from Time to Time, in the Queen's Name, by Instrument under the Great Seal of Canada, summon qualified Persons to the Senate; and, subject to the Provisions of this Act, every Person so summoned shall become and be a Member of the Senate and a Senator.
It was practice and then judicial interpretation (eventually overturned) that kept women out of the Senate. There was no law that said women should not be counted as persons.
typo
= new reply since forum marked as read
