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Steps toward gender equality
women's property rights began in Ontario, which gave wives the right to earn and control their own wages in 1872. Before the law changed, they had to fork their earnings over to their husbands. -
Sister act
In 1882, husbands whose wives had died were permitted to wed their wives' sisters. -
Making it official
In an era plagued with high anxiety over polygamous Mormons, who practiced plural marriage until 1890, the Canadian government was desperate to protect monogamy. -
Female Refuges Act
A draconian amendment in this year to the 1897 Female Refuges Act allowed Ontario officials to
incarcerate unwed and pregnant women between the ages of 16 and 35. -
Splits Ville
For the first time, the new Marriage and Divorce Act let Canadian women divorce on the same grounds as men adultery. -
The blame game
Toronto lawyer
Philip Epstein remembers those early, extra messy days before no-fault divorce came into play in 1986. " -
No means no
On Jan. 4, 1983, Bill C-127 came into effect and, for the first time, the Criminal Code made clear that spousal sexual assault was now a crime. Still, Backhouse argues, "There's a legacy here that we haven't been able to shed." -
Status update
In 1876, the Indian Act made this discrimination legal, decreeing that indigenous women would be stripped of official Indian status for marrying non-native men -
At last!
The advent of no-fault divorce meant most spouses no longer needed to get into the nitty-gritty of their dissolutions before a judge. Now, after living apart for just one year, they could simply pen in "marriage breakdown" and get out of Dodge. -
Same-sex marriage for real
With the passage of the gender-neutral Civil Marriage Act on July 20, 2005, gay marriage became legal across Canada. Just three other countries in the world had legalized gay marriage up to this point