Author Mcclung Nellie L.
Nellie McClung, born Nellie Letitia Mooney (October 20, 1873 - September 1, 1951) was a Canadian feminist, politician, and social activist. She was a part of the social and moral reform movements prevalent in Western Canada in the early 1900s. She was also the grandmother of outspoken Alberta judge John McClung. Born in Chatsworth, Ontario in 1873, and later moved with her family to a homestead in the Souris Valley of Manitoba.[1] Between 1904 and 1911, Nellie McClung, and her husband Wesley; who was a druggist and their family of five children [2] resided in Manitou, Manitoba. The women’s rights movement in Winnipeg embraced her. An effective speaker with a sense of humour, she played a leading role in the successful Liberal campaign in 1914.[1]. She lived in the West for the rest of her life in Manitou, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Victoria. The Manitou house in which McClung and her family lived in has been re-located to the Archibald Historical Museum in La Riviere, Manitoba whe
...re it has been restored, the house is open to the public. McClung once said "Why are pencils equipped with erasers if not to correct mistakes?", this quote argued for the support of equitable divorce laws, in which Nellie was a long time supporter.[3] Her great causes were women's suffrage and temperance. She understood that the first World War was important in broadning the appeal of woman suffrage because the man power shortages highlighted the extent of female employment, making the image of the sheltered female more obviously inapplicable to Canadian circumstances.[4] It was largely through her efforts that in 1916 Manitoba became the first province to give women the right to vote and to run for public office.[5] The Government of Canada followed suit that same year. After moving to Edmonton, Alberta, she continued the campaign for suffrage. She championed dental and medical care for school children, married women’s property rights, mothers' allowances, factory safety legislation and many other reforms. McClung was a supporter of the then popular social philosophy of eugenics and campaigned for the sterilization of those considered "simple-minded." Her promotion of the benefits of sterilization contributed to the passage of eugenics legislation in Alberta.[6] She published her first novel Sowing Seeds in Danny in 1908. A national best seller, it was followed by short stories and articles in several Canadian and American magazines. She served as a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1921 to 1926. As an opposition member, her opportunity to press for women's rights was limited, because women were not taken seriously [7] She was one of The Famous Five (also called The Valiant Five), with Irene Parlby, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Emily Murphy and Louise McKinney. The five put forward a petition, in 1927, to clarify the term "Persons in Section 24 of the British North America Act 1867. This section had served to exclude women from political office. The petition was successful, clearing the way for women to enter politics in Canada.[5]. Among other honours, in October 2009, the Senate voted to name McClung and the rest of the Five Canada's first "honorary senators."[8]
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