She Won the Vote for Women: The Life and Times of Lillian Beynon Thomas

Description

Lillian Beynon Thomas’ suffragist campaign succeeded where all others had failed. This full-length biography fills an important gap in the history of the ‘votes for women’ movement, a campaign which saw Manitoba become the earliest federal or provincial Canadian jurisdiction to grant some women the franchise.

Law professor and historian Robert E. Hawkins describes how Lillian used her work as a journalist, playwright, and activist to lobby for the rights of women. By connecting with women across Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Beynon Thomas was able to develop a broad-based movement that stood in contrast to the traditional tools of backroom, partisan politics. Her grassroots approach was a forerunner to modern political campaign techniques.

This is the story of how a young girl came with her settler family to a desolate part of the hardscrabble prairie and who, despite these humble origins, succeeded in engineering a fundamental Canadian democratic reform and championing the emerging Canadian cultural nationalism.

Advance Praise for She Won the Vote for Women

“Robert Hawkins has brought Lillian Beynon Thomas into our historical consciousness in this engaging and important book. She was a formidable innovator and activist on a broad front of issues in the struggle for the equality of women. This is a must read for scholars of western Canadian and women’s history, and an enjoyable one for the rest of us.”

—Peter MacKinnon, President Emeritus,  University of Saskatchewan

“Not many books can be described as a revelation. This is one of them. The life of Lillian Beynon Thomas and her impact on Canada is a story that goes to the heart of our nation.”

—Dale Eisler, Senior Policy Fellow, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy

“Robert E. Hawkins rescues an important woman from the obscurity of history. In his fascinating account, Hawkins demonstrates clearly that Canada was made by women like Lillian Beynon Thomas who accepted no limits to their place in the emerging nation. Engaging, lucid, and informative, this book is a must read for all interested in understanding how Canada became the nation it is today. We need others to follow Hawkin’s fine example of finding unique nation-builders.”

—Dr. Raymond Blake, FRSC, Professor of History, University of Regina