There’s a small town in the southern part of our province of Manitoba, in Canada, close to the American border, called Manitou. The high school in Manitou is named after an exceptional woman named Nellie McClung who was a suffragette of the early 1900’s. Recently, I had the opportunity to view a CBC documentary of her life and it was very inspiring. To some, ( mostly women), she was a saint, but to others ( mostly men) of her time, she would have been considered a sinner.
Nellie was born in 1873, in Chatsworth, Ontario , the youngest of 6 children. In her early school life, she discovered a love for reading and writing that stayed with her for the rest of her life. After completing Teacher’s College in Winnipeg, Manitoba, she found a job in Manitou, Manitoba. There she met a “kindred spirit” in an activist, named, Annie McClung, who’s son Wes, ran the local drugstore. After 5 years of courtship, Nellie and Wes married. They were later to have 5 children.
Annie encouraged Nellie’s writing and she helped look after the children while Nellie started writing her first novel, called Sowing Seeds in Danny, which became a best seller in Canada. It was through this writing, that she made her way into church basements, reading her writings. This led into her public involvement in the Prohibition Movement and ultimately politics.
Nellie moved with her husband and family to Winnipeg. She became involved as an activist and worked towards making women in Manitoba, the first in Canada, to earn the right to vote. Later the family moved to Alberta and Nellie accomplished the same thing there! In 1921, she was one of the first women elected into the Alberta Legislature.
She was one of the Famous Five; women who appealed the Person’s Act which at the time did not acknowledge women as persons under the law. They travelled all the way to London, England to the Supreme Court and eventually through their persistence, the Law was changed.
Nellie retired from politics and went into Broadcasting. In 1938, at the age of 65, she joined the League of Nations. She never gave up writing. She wrote 16 books in all. She died in 1951 at the age of 78.
Was Nellie McClung a saint or a sinner? Well to most men, she would have been a definite threat to their dominant way of life. Nellie, and others like her of this era, challenged the status quo, both in terms of the rights of women, but also in terms of the drinking habits of their husbands! I can only imagine the backlash Nellie probably endured-not to mention her husband. Of course, to someone like myself, who is benefiting from the work of the suffragettes, Nellie is a hero and a saint for tirelessly working towards the rights for women, in a time when women were barely considered human in the eyes of the law. I have so much admiration for her when I think that she publicly stated her truth despite what others may have thought or said, all because she was so passionate and believed in her cause so fervently.
A story like Nellie’s should inspire all of us. I believe we are here to help others and improve life on earth as we see it. There are things happening around us that don’t seem just or fair: world hunger, wars and pollution to name only three. If we all lived as Nellie did, speaking out whenever we see a need for positive change, the world would be a far better place in my opinion.
Nellie never got to see the real fruits of her labour in terms of equality for women. Her efforts should not be forgotten or taken for granted. There are still many places in the world where women do not have equal rights, although this is changing every day.
Marianne Williamson, in her inspiring book, Age of Miracles, talks about the female holocaust of the Middle Ages when millions of women were burned alive at the stake. This was an age of darkness. We are now entering an age of Light. In honour of all of these women of our past, those of us here now are really REQUIRED to continue the evolution of total equality for all. In this new age, men and women will walk side by side in perfect harmony and understanding, celebrating the differences which make all of us unique and yet ONE.
So I thank Nellie McClung for her contribution toward the advancement of women. Her life was indeed an inspiration. It is on her shoulders that I live my life that has been one of great opportunity, thanks to her!
In Spirit
Heather
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