Your Voice

Your Voice

One of the goals for our new exhibit “Nice Women Don’t Want the Vote”, about the 100th anniversary of the right to vote for women in Manitoba, was to elicit visitors’ opinions about the vote for women and women’s rights today, and display these opinions in the exhibit itself. In just over three weeks we’ve put up over 150 comment cards on the exhibit wall. We asked visitors to respond to their choice of three statements and here are some results:

The “Nice Women Don’t Want the Vote” exhibit, with a branded ballot box and three panels along the wall, each with response cards stuck to it by visitors.

The “Nice Women Don’t Want the Vote” exhibit.

Three response cards with the question, "If you could say one thing to a suffragist from 100 years ago, what would it be?" The first reply says "Things get better keep fighting!", the next, "You go girl! keep on fighting!", and the last, "Thank you for leaning your voice so that we are able to speak out TODAY!"

If you could say one thing to a Suffragist from 100 years ago, what would it be?

Four response cards with the question "What is one issue facing Canadian women today that has yet to be resolved?". The four responses read, "Missing and murdered 1st nations", "murders + missing woman and children", "Missing and murdered indigenous women", and "Aboriginal women and unsolved disappearances".

What is one issue facing Canadian women today that has yet to be resolved?

Seven response cards with the question "What is one issue facing Canadian women today that has yet to be resolved?". Each of the seven cards has a response with a varying version of equal pay, wage equality, or gender pay gap.

What is one issue facing women today that has yet to be resolved?

Three response cards with the prompt "I want to vote because...". The responses reads, "I believe I am worthy. I am beautiful. My voice matters. xo", "It means that your are free", and "It's 2015!".

I want to vote because…

Dr. Roland Sawatzky

Dr. Roland Sawatzky

Curator of History

Roland Sawatzky joined The Manitoba Museum in 2011. He received his B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Winnipeg, M.A. in Anthropology from the University of South Carolina, and Ph.D. in Archaeology…
Meet Dr. Roland Sawatzky