The National Council of Women of Canada (NCWC)
The National Council of Women of Canada (NCWC) was co-founded on October 27, 1893 by Henrietta Edwards and Lady Aberdeen. It officially formed at a public meeting in Toronto with 1500 women in attendance. As stated on the NCWC’s website, “many women, looking beyond the charitable societies, garden clubs, music and literary clubs, and missionary societies to which they belonged, saw the need for societal reform, better education for women, even women’s suffrage.” Canadian women saw the need to unite and speak “with a united voice” in order to achieve their goals.
The mission statement of the NCWC is to empower all women to work together towards improving the quality of life for women, families, and society through a forum of member organizations and individuals.
The NCWC concerns itself with a variety of women’s issues. The NCWC has a long history of campaigning for women’s rights, ranging from women’s equality to children’s rights, public health reforms to inner-city playgrounds, and consumer protection to citizenship work. The health of children, families, and communities has always been a priority for the NCWC. Some of the controversial issues the NCWC has helped campaign for include equal pay for equal work (1907, 1940s), study/prevention of venereal diseases (1930s), pension plans adapted to benefit female employees (1950s), broadening the grounds for divorce (1960s), dissemination of birth control information (1964), protection of prostitutes through programs and rehabilitation (1970s), and the removal of abortion from Criminal Code (1971).
The NCWC can be credited with obtaining reform for female prisoners, in particular establishing female matrons, as well as establishing hospitals in smaller centres and organizing educational campaigns related to health (with the cooperation of The Red Cross and the V.O.N.)
Today, local branches of the NCWC exist in 20 Canadian cities; provincial councils of women operate in 5 Canadian provinces; and there are 27 national organizations affiliated with the NCWC.
For more information:
- National Council of Women of Canada
- The Famous Five - Henrietta Muir Edwards - National Council of Women of Canada
