FIRSTS FOR B.C. AND CANADIAN WOMEN

1885 First Women's Suffrage petition presented to the BC Legislature
1895 First woman school trustee for Victoria and for BC, Maria Grant
1912 First woman lawyer in BC, Mabel French
1917 BC women gain the vote in provincial elections (if eligible)
1917 First female judge in BC, Helen Gregory MacGill (Juvenile Court)
1918 BC's first female Member of the Legislative Assembly, Mary Ellen Smith
1918 Women gain the vote in federal elections
1921 First woman elected tot the Canadian House of Commons, Agnes Macphail
1921 First female cabinet minister in B.C., Canada and the British Commonwealth: Mary Ellen Smith
1929 The Persons Case: Women are deemed persons and can sit in the Canadian Senate after the British Privy Council reverses a Supreme Court of Canada decision. Successful petitioners were Nellie McClung, Emily Murphy, Louise McKinney, Irene Parlby and Henrietta Muir Edwards.
1930 First woman appointed to the Senate, Cairine Wilson
1949 First woman speaker of a provincial legislature and first in the British Commonwealrth, Nancy Hodges of Victoria
1953 First woman senator from BC, Nancy Hodges
1957 First woman federal cabinet minister, Ellen Fairclough of Ontario
1965 B.C.'s first woman elected to the House of Commons, Grace MacInnis
1972 First black woman elected as a B.C. MLA, Rosemary Brown
1991 First woman provincial premier in Canada, B.C.'s Rita Johnson
1993 First female Canadian Prime Minister, Kim Campbell of Vancouver Island
1999 First female Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Beverly McLachlin
2001 First female Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia, The Hon. Iona Campagnolo

"I want for myself what I want for other women, absolute equality. After that is secured, men and women can take turns at being angels."
-- Agnes Macphail, first woman member of Canada's House of Commons