Creation of the Club
In 1876, the first organization that was specifically devoted to women's rights was created with The Toronto Women's Literary Club's first meeting. The group's leader was Dr. Emily Howard Stowe. Dr, Stowe had to fight and stand up for herself to get into medical school and to practice as a doctor. Because of her experiences, she was sensitive and understood all the problems women had to deal with/encounter in their professions and university. They choose the name "The Toronto Women's Literary Club" to produce a disguise of a sort to prevent public or personal controversy and disagreement about their activities. The club discussed many issues relating to a women's education, political, economic, and social status. They unanimously decided that for there to be actually change to society and for their problems to be properly addressed, women would have to have the right for political voting. Therefore, they decided/focused on women's suffrage as their first goal. In 1883, the organization celebrated the fact the Ontario women (if they weren't married and owned a certain amount of property) were now allowed the vote in municipal elections! The group now became public with it's purpose, as they renamed the organization to the "Canadian Women's Suffrage Association".
Other Achievements
The public education role that the association took on resulted in a number of changes. Women were not admitted into the University of Toronto in 1884, and medical schools for women were set up in Toronto in Kingston in 1883. In 1892, the first women was admitted into law school. However, these changes did not give women as equal education as women were still segregated from men, and were following a curriculum that was set up and based on what was seen as a women's fragile nature and limit of intelligence. Also, women who tried to gain a university's education in stereotypical male jobs were frowned upon and was treated with hostility, The club's most direct and successful accomplishment was the acceptance of women in universities and professional organizations.