Status of Women News
Periodical profile published 1979

Publisher:  National Action Committee on the Status of Women, Toronto, Canada
Year Published:  1979
Pages:  30pp   Resource Type:  Serial Publication (Periodical)
Cx Number:  CX929

The National Action Committee (NAC) on the Status of Women comprises approximately 130 non-governmental women's organizations.

Abstract: 
The National Action Committee (NAC) on the Status of Women comprises approximately 130 non-governmental women's organizations. The objectives of NAC are to press for the implementation of the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women; to work for additional reform supported by its participating organizations and encourage communication between women's groups across Canada.

This issue of Status of Women News, published by NAC, celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the "Persons Case". In August 1927, five Canadian women sent a petition to Ottawa asking for a decision on whether women would be called to the Senate. Section 24 of the British North America Act allows the Governor-General to "summon qualified Persons to the Senateā€¦". Previously, the Government had argued that it did not have the legal power to appoint women to the Senate because they were not "persons". These five Canadian women persisted to change this discriminatory interpretation of the law until in 1929 the Privy Council of the House of Lords in England ruled that the word "persons" in the B.N.A. Act. section 24, did include women.

Other articles in this issue focus on discriminatory attitudes towards and problems of elderly women. It look toward solutions to improve the lives of older women in such areas as adequate housing, better public transportation, increased incomes and improved social services.


$3.00 per year.

Subject Headings

Insert T_CxShareButtonsHorizontal.html here