By Dan Bourgeois
A little while back I came across a small article in the back pages of the Millbrook-Omemee Reporter of February 17, 1927 titled “Restore Property Rights to Women- Error in Ontario Law Deprived Them of Title Following Marriage.” Apparently, about a year earlier during a revision of the law which included women’s property rights, “… the section was dropped which preserved to the wife her title to property owned by her at the time of marriage ,and also secured to her the sole title to any gain which she might make by any employment or profession”. In other words, prior to the earlier law being passed, all of the wife’s property became the husband’s property upon marriage and the error now made the husband the owner, as in previous times. At the time the article was printed, the legislature was working to correct the error.
Around the same time I saw some articles from the mid 1980s in the Millbrook Highlighter written by Norman McBain. Norman was a founding member of the Historical Society and major contributor to This Green and Pleasant Land-Chronicles of Cavan Township, prior to his death. The book was dedicated in memory of him. The articles dealt with taxes and estates as well as wills during the 19th century in Ontario. All of this got me interested in the state of personal rights in the 1800s at a time when European settlement was occurring in this part of the world.
First of all, in general, only men who owned property could vote in elections for the government. Legislation in the province of Canada was passed in1849 that specifically banned all women from voting. Men without property and the First Nations had no voting rights either. Aside from being unable to vote, women and most men could not run for public office.
Gradually voting rights began to be extended to some of these groups. Non property owning men gained the right to vote federally in 1885, but “excluding a person of Mongolian or Chinese origin”. Status First Nations men were also excluded. In Ontario, unmarried women and widows who owned property could vote municipally as of 1882. It wasn’t until 1917 that all women could vote provincially and 1918 to vote in federal elections. By the way, in Quebec the right of women to vote provincially wasn’t granted until 1940, which meant both my grandmothers didn’t have full voting rights until they were in their forties, married with children.
As a rule in what is now Canada, in the 1800s men had complete custody over their children until the age of 21. Unmarried women over 21years age and widows could own property but their rights were otherwise severely limited. Regarding married women, “By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law; that is, the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage”(Wendell’s Blackstone’s Commentaries, 1857). Basically, the wife’s rights to her own property were given to the husband. Upon marriage, her wages and property became her husband’s and he had the right to manage her property as he saw fit.
To make a too long story short, legal rights were finally extended to all women, including married women. In 1873 a law was passed by which married women could own property and other assets, but any changes to these had to be approved by the husband.
Finally, in Ontario the Married Women’s Property Act of 1884 was passed. Women were now allowed to own or buy property and enter legal agreements or even launch a lawsuit without the supervision of their father or spouse. This was the law which was accidentally deleted in 1927 (It was the 1970s before married women could have their own credit card not authorized by the husband, but that’s another story).
Although this seems like ancient history, it’s not that far removed from us if you consider that some grandparents alive today grew up with grandparents who were affected by these restrictive early laws and benefitted from their removal. It’s also important to remember that rights that have been hard won can, without careful vigilance, be lost, whether due to clerical or political circumstances.