Our History

Women first earned the right to vote in Canada just over one hundred years ago. This timeline shows just how far we've come since then, and how much more work there is yet to be done.

1917

Louise McKinney is the first woman elected in Canada (Alberta MLA); Some women get the right to vote in Manitoba

1918

Some women get the right to vote in federal elections.

1919

Some women get the right to run as federal candidates

1921

Agnes Macphail is the first woman elected to Parliament

1936

Barbara Hanley is first woman elected as mayor in Canada

1948

The right to vote is extended to women of Asian-descent

1950

Inuit women gain the right to vote, although not put into practice in the North until 1962

1951

Charlotte Whitton is first woman mayor of a major Canadian city (Ottawa)

1960

The Indian Act is amended to allow First Nations women the right to vote in federal elections

1972

Rosemary Brown is first Black woman elected in Canada (British Columbia MLA)

1980

Jeanne Sauvé is first woman Speaker of the House of Commons

1988

Ethel Blondin-Andrew is first Indigenous woman elected to the Parliament

1989

Audrey McLaughlin is first woman to lead a major federal political party

1991

Rita Johnson is first woman Premier in Canada (British Columbia)

1993

Kim Campbell is Canada’s first (and still only) woman Prime Minister

2001

Equal Voice founded

2013

Kathleen Wynne becomes the first openly LGBTQ+ provincial Premier (Ontario)

2015

Alberta NDP comes closest governing party to gender parity, with 47 percent of seats held by women;

First gender-balanced federal cabinet appointed

2018

Québec is the first jurisdiction to elect more than 40% women (41.5%)

2021

After a by-election, a 10th women is elected to legislative assembly in the Northwest Territories as they become the first province or territory in Canada to achieve gender parity in the Canadian Legislature.