, Canada
1928 - The Supreme Court of Canada rules that the BNA Act does not define women as "persons" and are therefore not eligible to hold public office.

In 1928, the Supreme Court of Canada delivered a ruling that reflected the entrenched legal and social barriers facing women at the time: it held that, under the British North America Act (BNA Act) of 1867, women were not considered “persons” and were therefore ineligible to hold seats in the Canadian Senate or other public offices. This decision underscored the limitations of formal legal rights for women, despite their growing participation in public life and their achievement of the federal vote a decade earlier.

The ruling was based on a strict, literal interpretation of the law, reflecting the prevailing patriarchal norms that had long defined political and legal authority in Canada. It reinforced the idea that women, though citizens, were legally excluded from the highest levels of political decision-making, highlighting the gap between citizenship rights and full political inclusion. The decision provoked frustration and mobilization among women’s rights activists, who saw the denial of “personhood” as both unjust and illogical in a society that had already recognized women as voters.

The Supreme Court’s ruling set the stage for the landmark “Persons Case” of 1929, in which the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in Britain overturned the Canadian Supreme Court, affirming that women were indeed “persons” under the law and eligible to serve in the Senate. The 1928 decision, therefore, stands as a pivotal moment in Canadian legal history: a reminder of the systemic obstacles women faced, and a catalyst for one of the most significant victories in the advancement of women’s political rights in Canada.

fccs.ok.ubc.ca/ about/ links/ resources/ canadian-history/ 1919-to-1945.html

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