Emily Murphy was a Canadian women's rights activist and author. In 1916, she became the first female magistrate in Canada and the fifth in the British Empire after Elizabeth Webb Nicholls, Jane Price, E. Cullen and Cecilia Dixon of Australia. She is best known for her contributions to Canadian feminism, specifically to the question of whether women were "persons" under Canadian law.
Emily Murphy
Statue of Emily Murphy in the monument to The Famous Five, Parliament Hill, Ottawa
William Lyon Mackenzie King unveils a plaque commemorating the five Alberta women whose efforts resulted in the Persons Case. [Front, L-R]: Mrs. Muir Edwards, daughter-in-law of Henrietta Muir Edwards; Mrs. J.C. Kenwood, daughter of Judge Emily Murphy; Hon. W.L. Mackenzie King; Mrs. Nellie McClung. [Rear, L-R]: Senators Iva Campbell Fallis, Cairine Wilson (Ottawa).
The cover of Murphy's 1922 book The Black Candle
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behavior, whereas in others, they are ignored and suppressed. They differ from broader notions of human rights through claims of an inherent historical and traditional bias against the exercise of rights by women and girls, in favor of men and boys.
Women's rights
Annie Kenney and Christabel Pankhurst campaigning for women's suffrage
Ancient Sumerian bas-relief portrait depicting the poet Enheduanna
Statue of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art