Introduction

istory has often overlooked women. Browse through any encyclopedia, and it is obvious that the biographical sketches are overwhelmingly the stories of men. It is as though women, with a few outstanding exceptions, have had relatively little to contribute in the various fields of human endeavor.

One of the main reasons for this unfortunate situation is that for centuries women were overlooked in history. It was not that women did not have the potential to be great artists, politicians, philosophers, or even soldiers. It was that they were not given the opportunities. For centuries it was generally accepted by men and women alike that women were not capable of doing “a man's work.” Women were believed to be physically, mentally, and emotionally inferior to men. The father was the head of the household. Wives owed obedience to their husbands. Sons were heirs ahead of daughters. While we, looking back from the 21st century, might condemn all this as terribly unfair, it would be wrong of us to judge our ancestors. Everything in their social environment — culture, religion, and philosophy supported the system.

Women were not expected to step beyond the bounds of convention. Their place was where their society told them it was, and that was usually in the home. A lady of the nobility may have enjoyed greater wealth, comfort, and leisure time than a peasant woman, but she was just as much restricted by the moral and social codes of her time.

Of course, there were women who dared to challenge those codes. They did so at the risk of stirring up public anger, creating scandal, estranging their families, even breaking the law. Some did it for personal, even self-centered reasons. Others were motivated by ideals of social justice.

This volume presents the stories of 15 women of Canada who dared in some way to challenge their societies. They ventured into areas previously considered off-limits to females — medicine, publishing, the military. They survived harrowing ordeals and courted forbidden romance. Some were Canadian born; others came to Canada from elsewhere. They emerged from different backgrounds, but their common bond was daring to step off the narrow path of custom. Some of these women made mistakes and engaged in criminal activities, for which they paid the price. What they did was not admirable, but like the women whose accomplishments were nobler, they, too, are part of history.