With yet another election looming in both Canada and the United
States much time has been devoted to telling women why it is
essential that we vote. We are continually reminded of the
struggles of the women to secure suffrage. These are "our
grandmothers" who put up with endless degradations so that today
women may have a stake in how our countries are run. These women
bravely faced down patriarchy asserting that women were indeed
persons of equal value and rational beings. Do you see anything
in common about these pictures besides the fact that they are
all women? History teaches us that women got the right to vote
in the United States in 1920 and in Canada in 1918. In Canada
there are banners celebrating 90 years of women having the right
to vote. We are expected to be thrilled with this knowledge, and
view the opportunity to vote as a celebration of these brave
women. When I read the banner, I thought to myself 90 years for
whom? Aboriginal women did not attain the right to vote in 1918.
Similarly Aborigin