Hilda Ramsay: The First Female Candidate for the PEI Provincial Legislature
For those of you who didn't pay attention in history class (or were living under a rock), there was a time when many men and women could not vote on PEI. Early elections were very restrictive on who could vote, some qualifications included being a white man who owned land, owned a certain amount of assets, or paid a certain amount in taxes or rent. And very few actually owned land on PEI, which would eventually lead to the formation of the Tenant League - which you can read about in my post "PEI, the Absentee Landlords, the Tenant League."
Religion, ethnicity, and gender were also deciding factors regarding your voting rights throughout the year.
As a result, voting in early Canada, or British North America, was very limited.
Slowly these rights expanded to all (white) men and then slowly to (white) women and then slowly to everyone else.
So today, we are going to look at Hilda Ramsay, the first woman on PEI to run for the provincial legislature.
First, a little history of women's suffrage in PEI, covering from 1888 to 1970 (when the first Island woman was elected to the PEI legislature) - and keep in mind, these were victories in the suffrage movement, they did not just "happen":
1888 - Unmarried women in Charlottetown can vote in municipal elections
1892 - Unmarried women in Summerside can vote in municipal elections
1899 - Women can sit on the Charlottetown and Summerside School Boards
1917 - Women with close relatives in the war can vote in federal elections (interestingly, one of the reasons these women could vote in the election was because politicians believed they would vote for conscription - a key factor in the election that year - to support their relatives at the front)
1918 - Female, Canadian citizens can vote in federal elections - Aboriginals were still barred from voting
1921 - Women can vote in PEI provincial elections
1929 - British Privy Council declares women to be "persons" and therefore able to serve in the Senate
1951 - Hilda Ramsay of Indian River becomes the first female candidate for a seat in the provincial legislature
1955 - Elsie Inman becomes the first PEI woman appointed to the Senate
1960 - Aboriginals living on a reserve can vote in federal elections. Prior to this, they had to give up their Registered Indian Status to vote
1960 - Mary Bernard becomes the first woman elected as chief of Lennox Island First Nation
1961 - Islander Mary Margaret Smith MacDonald becomes the first woman east of Ottawa elected to the House of Commons
1968 - Dorothy Corrigan becomes the first woman elected mayor of Charlottetown
1970 - Jean Canfield becomes the first woman elected to PEI's Legislative Assembly
The men and women who fought for these rights had to fight hard. As this Heritage Minute demonstrates -
PEI women did not set up an event like this one (that I have found at least), which would have been amazing!
So in 1921, most women on PEI can vote in provincial elections, but it wouldn't be until 1951 that an Island woman would run for provincial office - 30 years later. Another 19 before a woman was elected to the Assembly - 49 years after they won the right to vote.
Ramsay was a member of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), the forerunner of the New Democratic Party (NDP), for the Electoral District of Third Prince.
The election was held on 26 April 1951. She was one of three CCF candidates that year, none of them were elected.
Ramsay lost to Liberal Frank L. MacNutt. But, she was not the only woman who attempted to win a legislative seat that year. Elsie Inman (the first PEI woman appointed to the Senate), had put her name forth for the Liberal nomination in the 4th Queens district but lost and another candidate ran in that district for the Liberal party. Therefore, she never made it onto the official ballot.
Ramsay received 236 votes, a dismal number. But, it is unlikely she received so few votes because of her gender - the other CCF candidates also received a dismal number of votes. Remember, the CCF was a third party... in the last provincial election (2015) the results were Liberal's - 18; PC - 8; Green - 1; and NDP - 0. Third parties do not have a wonderful track record on PEI.
Ramsay was an impressive woman. She was the first woman on PEI to be a jury foreman; president of the Women's Institute, Catholic Women's League, and Island Drama Festival; and awarded a Canadian Drama Award.
0% of PEI Members of Parliament are women
18.5% of PEI Members of the Legislative Assembly are women
50% of PEI senators are women
75% of the Lennox Island Band Council are women
So where does PEI fit in with the rest of Canada regarding our number of female MLA's?
The good news is we are not last! But, we are below the national average.
As of 2017:
British Columbia - 39%
Yukon - 36.8%
Ontario - 34.5%
Alberta - 33.3%
Nova Scotia - 33.3%
Quebec - 30.4%
Saskatchewan - 26.2%
Canada (national average) - 26%
Newfoundland - 25%
Manitoba - 24.5%
PEI - 18.5%
New Brunswick - 16.3%
Northwest Territories - 10.5%
Nunavut - 9%
We peaked in 2006 with 26% of our MLA's being women.
If these are issues you are interested in, take a look at the 2015 Equality Report Card. This report covers women in roles of power, health, justice, adult education, and diversity and inclusion. I highly encourage taking a look at it!
Last year, the "Daughter's of the Vote" event was held in Ottawa to commemorate the 100th anniversary of some women (those who had close relatives serving in the First World War) receiving the right to vote. PEI's Jillian MacIntyre, Sarah Crosby, Payton Jadis, and Taya Nabuurs represented PEI's four federal ridings. They joined 338 other young women who represent every federal riding in Canada. Denise Siele, of Equal Voice Canada who organized the event, said the "quality of applications from Prince Edward Island was superb and demonstrates young women are eager to grow their leadership skills and play active roles in the political process."
Now that we have briefly covered the number of women currently in PEI politics, imagine what it would be like in the early 1950s, when no woman had even been on the ballot!
Women like Hilda Ramsay, Elsie Inman, Mary Margaret Smith MacDonald and others demonstrated a lot of commitment and drive to get to where they were in politics. They demonstrate that you have to take risks, stand for what you believe, and fight for what you want.
Sources
"A history of the vote in Canada." Elections Canada. http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=res&dir=his&document=chap1&lang=e
Crane, Olive. "Women in Politics: A Prince Edward Island Perspective." Canadian Parliamentary Review Autumn 2006: 12-13.
"Daughters of the Vote engages youth." Province of Prince Edward Island. 24 February 2017. https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/news/daughters-vote-engages-youth
"Fund honours Hilda Ramsay." The Guardian, 19 June 2008, sec. A, p. 4.
PEI Coalition for Women in Politics. https://www.peiwomeningovernment.ca/home
"PEI Women in Politics." Province of Prince Edward Island. http://www.gov.pe.ca/photos/original/WI_KWomPolitics.pdf
"Provincial General Election - May 4, 2015 - Results." Elections Prince Edward Island. http://www.electionspei.ca/provincial/historical/results/2015/
MacDonald, Edward. If You're Stronghearted: Prince Edward Island in the Twentieth Century. Charlottetown: Prince Edward Island Museum and Heritage Foundation, 2000.
"Women in Politics." Elections: Prince Edward Island. http://www.electionspei.ca/index.php?number=1046847&lang=E
Religion, ethnicity, and gender were also deciding factors regarding your voting rights throughout the year.
As a result, voting in early Canada, or British North America, was very limited.
Slowly these rights expanded to all (white) men and then slowly to (white) women and then slowly to everyone else.
So today, we are going to look at Hilda Ramsay, the first woman on PEI to run for the provincial legislature.
First, a little history of women's suffrage in PEI, covering from 1888 to 1970 (when the first Island woman was elected to the PEI legislature) - and keep in mind, these were victories in the suffrage movement, they did not just "happen":
1888 - Unmarried women in Charlottetown can vote in municipal elections
1892 - Unmarried women in Summerside can vote in municipal elections
1899 - Women can sit on the Charlottetown and Summerside School Boards
1917 - Women with close relatives in the war can vote in federal elections (interestingly, one of the reasons these women could vote in the election was because politicians believed they would vote for conscription - a key factor in the election that year - to support their relatives at the front)
1918 - Female, Canadian citizens can vote in federal elections - Aboriginals were still barred from voting
1921 - Women can vote in PEI provincial elections
1929 - British Privy Council declares women to be "persons" and therefore able to serve in the Senate
1951 - Hilda Ramsay of Indian River becomes the first female candidate for a seat in the provincial legislature
1955 - Elsie Inman becomes the first PEI woman appointed to the Senate
1960 - Aboriginals living on a reserve can vote in federal elections. Prior to this, they had to give up their Registered Indian Status to vote
1960 - Mary Bernard becomes the first woman elected as chief of Lennox Island First Nation
1961 - Islander Mary Margaret Smith MacDonald becomes the first woman east of Ottawa elected to the House of Commons
1968 - Dorothy Corrigan becomes the first woman elected mayor of Charlottetown
1970 - Jean Canfield becomes the first woman elected to PEI's Legislative Assembly
The men and women who fought for these rights had to fight hard. As this Heritage Minute demonstrates -
PEI women did not set up an event like this one (that I have found at least), which would have been amazing!
So in 1921, most women on PEI can vote in provincial elections, but it wouldn't be until 1951 that an Island woman would run for provincial office - 30 years later. Another 19 before a woman was elected to the Assembly - 49 years after they won the right to vote.
Ramsay was a member of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), the forerunner of the New Democratic Party (NDP), for the Electoral District of Third Prince.
 |
| Hilda Ramsay. (Photo Credit: PEI Coalition for Women in Politics) |
She was a farmwife and married to Leslie Ramsay. Her platform emphasized the significant role women played in social welfare issues and the drive to establish a woman's voice in the Provincial Legislature, but Dr. Edward MacDonald has argued she was treated more like a beauty contestant rather than a political candidate. The Guardian, for example, noted she was "an extremely attractive person, a fluent speaker, has a friendly personality, and a ready smile." As we all know, a politician's smile is key to winning an election...right.
The election was held on 26 April 1951. She was one of three CCF candidates that year, none of them were elected.
Ramsay lost to Liberal Frank L. MacNutt. But, she was not the only woman who attempted to win a legislative seat that year. Elsie Inman (the first PEI woman appointed to the Senate), had put her name forth for the Liberal nomination in the 4th Queens district but lost and another candidate ran in that district for the Liberal party. Therefore, she never made it onto the official ballot.
Ramsay received 236 votes, a dismal number. But, it is unlikely she received so few votes because of her gender - the other CCF candidates also received a dismal number of votes. Remember, the CCF was a third party... in the last provincial election (2015) the results were Liberal's - 18; PC - 8; Green - 1; and NDP - 0. Third parties do not have a wonderful track record on PEI.
Ramsay was an impressive woman. She was the first woman on PEI to be a jury foreman; president of the Women's Institute, Catholic Women's League, and Island Drama Festival; and awarded a Canadian Drama Award.
 |
| Location of Indian River on Google Maps. As you can see, it is a little north of Kensington. |
Women like Ramsay opened the doors for the success of future women, but there is still some work to be done. According to the PEI Coalition for Women in Government, in 2018:
0% of PEI Members of Parliament are women
18.5% of PEI Members of the Legislative Assembly are women
50% of PEI senators are women
75% of the Lennox Island Band Council are women
So where does PEI fit in with the rest of Canada regarding our number of female MLA's?
The good news is we are not last! But, we are below the national average.
As of 2017:
British Columbia - 39%
Yukon - 36.8%
Ontario - 34.5%
Alberta - 33.3%
Nova Scotia - 33.3%
Quebec - 30.4%
Saskatchewan - 26.2%
Canada (national average) - 26%
Newfoundland - 25%
Manitoba - 24.5%
PEI - 18.5%
New Brunswick - 16.3%
Northwest Territories - 10.5%
Nunavut - 9%
We peaked in 2006 with 26% of our MLA's being women.
If these are issues you are interested in, take a look at the 2015 Equality Report Card. This report covers women in roles of power, health, justice, adult education, and diversity and inclusion. I highly encourage taking a look at it!
Last year, the "Daughter's of the Vote" event was held in Ottawa to commemorate the 100th anniversary of some women (those who had close relatives serving in the First World War) receiving the right to vote. PEI's Jillian MacIntyre, Sarah Crosby, Payton Jadis, and Taya Nabuurs represented PEI's four federal ridings. They joined 338 other young women who represent every federal riding in Canada. Denise Siele, of Equal Voice Canada who organized the event, said the "quality of applications from Prince Edward Island was superb and demonstrates young women are eager to grow their leadership skills and play active roles in the political process."
Now that we have briefly covered the number of women currently in PEI politics, imagine what it would be like in the early 1950s, when no woman had even been on the ballot!
Women like Hilda Ramsay, Elsie Inman, Mary Margaret Smith MacDonald and others demonstrated a lot of commitment and drive to get to where they were in politics. They demonstrate that you have to take risks, stand for what you believe, and fight for what you want.
Sources
"A history of the vote in Canada." Elections Canada. http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=res&dir=his&document=chap1&lang=e
Crane, Olive. "Women in Politics: A Prince Edward Island Perspective." Canadian Parliamentary Review Autumn 2006: 12-13.
"Daughters of the Vote engages youth." Province of Prince Edward Island. 24 February 2017. https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/news/daughters-vote-engages-youth
"Fund honours Hilda Ramsay." The Guardian, 19 June 2008, sec. A, p. 4.
PEI Coalition for Women in Politics. https://www.peiwomeningovernment.ca/home
"PEI Women in Politics." Province of Prince Edward Island. http://www.gov.pe.ca/photos/original/WI_KWomPolitics.pdf
"Provincial General Election - May 4, 2015 - Results." Elections Prince Edward Island. http://www.electionspei.ca/provincial/historical/results/2015/
MacDonald, Edward. If You're Stronghearted: Prince Edward Island in the Twentieth Century. Charlottetown: Prince Edward Island Museum and Heritage Foundation, 2000.
"Women in Politics." Elections: Prince Edward Island. http://www.electionspei.ca/index.php?number=1046847&lang=E
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