Canadian Involvement in Oversees Charities in the 1940's and Famous Women Painters

Conclusion of the status of Canadian Women series

1945

Dr. Lotta Hitschamonova founds the Unitarian Service Committee, which is the first Canadian overseas charity foundation.

1946

The women's division of the Canadian military and armed forces is dismantled.

The Ontario Teachers Federation gives equality pay to their female and male teachers.

1947

A Landmark act, The Canadian Citizenship Act comes into effect - Before that men and women were considered British subjects.

1948

Ruth Bailey and Gwennyth Barton - Were the first Black graduates in Canada from a school of nursing.

1949

Nancy Hodges is not only is the first female speaker in British Columbia but the first woman speaker in the British Commonwealth.

Prudence Hewitt 1896 – 1947

She was a painter born to a wealthy Montreal family. During her early years she studied in England and served as a volunteer for the Red Cross. She came home after the first world war. She joined the Beaver Hall Group, a group of female painters founded in 1920. Her paintings were not recognized at the time because women were not recognized in the art world. Her first pubic showing was in 1924 for the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in Toronto. Hewitt received more prominence from her paintings when she lived France, 1925-1926 . In 1929, her painting, Girl on the Hill. won top prize at the Governor General Willingdon competition organized by the National Gallery of Canada. It wasn't until 1932, that she actually got a showing here in Montreal at the Scott Gallery. In 1933 Prudence Hewitt co-founded the Canadian Group of Painters. She continued to paint through to 1945 when her health declined.

This series was devoted to prominent Montreal and other Canadian women. In the 1940's women of that era did many remarkable things, showing the world just how talented we really are. Yet, sadly for the day women in North America were still considered lesser than men in some many ways.

Sources:

http://www.dgeq.qc.ca/en/women_quest_equality.asp

http://www.canadianwarbrides.com/intro.asp

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ARTU0003300

http://www.womenscollegehospital.ca/about/who-was-Gray.html

http://canadaonline.about.com/od/canadawomenww2/p/elsiemacgill.htm

http://www.canadianeconomy.gc.ca/English/economy/1944family.html

http://www.mta.ca/about_canada/study_guide/famous_women/portia_white.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prudence_Heward