National Council of Women is founded

February 23, 2017

National Council of Women at Rideau Hall, Topley Studio, 1898. Library and Archives Canada, PA-028034

1893

In the late 1800s, women were beginning to organize themselves into associations for effective social action. Lady Aberdeen, wife of the governor general, established Canada’s National Council of Women in 1893, five years after the founding of the International Council of Women. The Canadian council served as a federation of women’s associations, and sought to better the status of women through improvements in education, a reform of working conditions and the granting of women’s suffrage, or the right to vote.

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