A Page Out of History

Reminiscent of the controversial Fearless Girl statue facing down Charging Bull in Manhattan’s Financial District, this 1913 cartoon was published in a time of growing support for women’s suffrage in Canada. Canadian women were confident: Suffrage picnics, meetings, teas, petitions, and mock Parliaments were taking place in communities throughout the country. Political franchise was no longer limited to the ideals of privileged urban women; workingclass and rural women were also organizing and ready to shape the nation’s political landscape. This cartoon reflects the idea that men were running scared from the growing force of the women’s movement. Using a young girl to illustrate Canada’s women is deliberate: Supporters felt enfranchisement would bring virtue and moral reform to a corrupt, male-dominated political system.