Rights of Women

Canada’s history has been shaped by countless determined women who worked to promote and uphold gender equality in Canada. Women championed a number of important human rights that have become core Canadian values — the right to vote in provincial and federal elections, the right to own property, the right to earn a fair wage, and finally, the right to be recognized as “persons” under the law.
Women are now protected from discrimination on the grounds of gender, age, marital status and more by the Canadian Human Rights Act.
Protecting women’s rights
Women’s rights are human rights. Equality rights are of particular importance, given the unequal treatment women have experienced in Canada. A number of legal instruments exist in Canada to protect equality for women.
One is the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which gives constitutional protection to individual human rights. It applies to relationships between an individual and government, while relationships between individuals are covered in certain areas by the Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA), as well as provincial and territorial human rights legislation.
There are two key sections of the Charter to note with regards to equality: sections 15 and 28.Section 15 ensures the equal protection and benefit of the law “without discrimination […] based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.”
Court decisions have expanded this list to prohibit discrimination on other grounds, such as citizenship, marital status and sexual orientation; decisions have also recognized that multiple grounds of discrimination may intersect in particular cases.
Section 28 guarantees that all rights covered in the Charter apply equally to men and women.
The Canadian Human Rights Act of 1977 states that all Canadians have the right to equality, equal opportunity, fair treatment, and an environment free of discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, marital status and family status. It protects Canadians from discrimination when they are employed by or receive services from:
The CHRA created the Canadian Human Rights Commission to investigate and settle complaints of discrimination, and refer them to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal for a decision or settlement.
Other legislative acts that are important to women and equality rights are the Employment Equity Act and the Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act…
A brief history of women’s rights in Canada
Equality
One of the earliest steps toward equality for Canadian women was the legalization of married women’s property rights.
Another important milestone for women’s rights was defining “persons” under the British North America Act, 1867.
According to common law, women could not hold political office. If the British Parliament had intended for women to be included as “qualified persons” under section 24 of the Act,
Voting
At the beginning of the 20th century, women were denied the right to vote in provincial and federal elections. This began to change in 1916 when women won the right to vote in provincial elections in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. British Columbia and Ontario granted women the right to vote in 1917…
Labour
One of the first major steps toward equality between women and men in the workforce was the passing of the Fair Employment Practices Act and the Female Employees Fair Remuneration Act in Ontario, in 1951.
International women’s rights
Canada has worked to make women’s human rights a strong focus of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and Human Rights Council….
Source: canada.ca/en/canadian