Women’s History Month coincides with Persons Day – an opportunity to honour women and girls who have faced much opposition and have had to fight to remove barriers so that those coming after them could enjoy and participate fully in their social, cultural and economic life.
Why do we celebrate Person’s Day? In 1927 five incredible women from Alberta started their fight to have women legally recognized as persons, under the British North America Act”. And finally in 1929 they won the right to sit in the Senate.
Who were these women? These were women of incredible foresight and strength:
Emily Murphy, a journalist, suffragist and the first female judge in Alberta.
Nellie McClung – politician, author and social activist.
Louise McKinney – the first woman to be elected to the Alberta Legislature. She was also a social reformer.
Henrietta Muir Edwards – a suffragist and activist.
Irene Parlby first president of the United Farm Women’s Association and a politician.
Women’s History Month is not only about incredible women in Canada but women who broke the norm in their own countries and achieved much honour and greatness. They have had to fight to achieve what they wanted.
In July 1960 Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon) elected the world’s first women prime minister – Sirimavo Bandaranaike. She served as Prime Minister from 1970-1977 and again from 1994-2000.
In 1963 Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova travelled to space completing 38 orbits during a three-day mission – nearly 71 hours and the only woman to have flown a solo space mission.
Born in Medina, in approximately 620 AD Saudi Arabia Rufaida Al-Aslamia was an Arab medical and social worker recognized as the first female Muslin nurse.
Elsie Paul: the first Indigenous woman band chief in Canada in 1954 and began a school for children in her community in the late 1950s.
We honour Sanae Takaichi, who made history as Japan’s first female Prime Minister on October 21, 2025. Her rise to the nation’s highest office marks a groundbreaking moment in a country where women have long been underrepresented in leadership.
The list goes and today we see, in the news media and social media the many great things that women have or are achieving.
The theme for Canada’s celebration is “Strength in every story” so let us not forget our mothers and grandmothers who have made us what we are today. We have learnt from them and follow them. Let us celebrate them today as we celebrate and commemorate Women’s History Month.
Respectfully submitted by,
Zarina Khan on behalf of the National Human Rights Committee
