A Great Revolutionary Wave: Women and the Vote in British Columbia(Women's Suffrage and the Struggle for Democracy)

Suffrage in British Columbia – and elsewhere in Canada – is best understood as a continuum: although white settler women achieved the federal vote in 1917, it would take another thirty years before the provincial government would remove race-based restrictions on voting rights. British Columbia is often overlooked in the national story of women's suffrage. A Great Revolutionary Wave challenges that omission and the portrayal of suffragists as conservative, traditional, and polite. Lara Campbell follows the propaganda campaigns undertaken by suffrage organizations and traces the role of working-class women in the fight for political equality. She demonstrates the connections between British Columbian and British suffragists and examines how racial exclusion and Indigenous dispossession shaped arguments and tactics for enfranchisement. A Great Revolutionary Wave rethinks the complex legacy of suffrage by considering both the successes and limitations of women's historical fight for political equality. That legacy remains relevant today as Canadians continue to grapple with the meaning of justice, inclusion, and equality.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1 Suffrage and Reform 2 Building a Movement 3 The Anti-suffragists 4 Performing Politics 5 The Politics of Race 6 Labouring Women 7 A Global Movement 8 Achieving the Vote 9 Extending Suffrage Conclusion Sources and Further Reading; Index

About the Author :
Lara Campbell is a professor of gender, sexuality, and women's studies at Simon Fraser University. Her publications include Respectable Citizens: Gender, Family, and Unemployment in Ontario's Great Depression, which received honourable mentions from the Canadian Historical Association and the Canadian Women's Studies Association. She is a co-author, with Willeen Keough, of Gender History: Canadian Perspectives, the only textbook in the field of Canadian gender history.

Review :
An excellent addition to the Canadian series Women's Suffrage and the Struggle for Democracy, the volume is a meaningful contribution to the ongoing dialogue on human rights and social justice. - K. Jane Watt (BC History) A core rationale for this book series, Lara Campbell explains, is the need to 'tell regional stories' about the women's suffrage movement. Campbell's regional focus is justified by her treatment of elections at the municipal level and for school boards. - Barbara J. Messamore, University of the Fraser Valley (BC Studies) ...[A Great Revolutionary Wave] compellingly argues that the stories of women's suffrage cannot be read in isolation without recognizing their intimate connections with the stories of all people who were discriminated against and denied the vote on account of race, ethnicity, religion, marital status, and other characteristics of their personal, social, and political identities. - Dominique Garingan, Library Manager, Parlee McLaws LLC (Canadian Law Library Review) Her book makes a valuable contribution to the understanding of herstory. - Phyllis Reeve (The Ormsby Review)