“The sixteen women who reported on the St Louis World’s Fair in 1904 and created the Canadian Women’s Press Club (CWPC) on a railway car during the excursion stood out at a time when most women had few rights and played no role in public affairs. Women in Canada did not have the right to vote in federal or provincial elections. They could not hold office. There was a strong prejudice against women professionals and a matching belief that no woman should work after marriage. The image of a woman at home was the measure of respectability. Opposition to higher education for women was widespread. Holding a job as a journalist and forming a national club for women professionals was an audacious move that made a resounding political statement.”

- Excerpted from the upcoming The Sweet Sixteen by Linda Kay.

Read Kay’s International Women’s Day op-ed piece, In Journalism, These Women Paved the Way