International Women’s Day

Many people celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8^th. We were curious about Women and Real Estate, here is what our research says.

Legislation was not discussed regarding women and property rights - more specifically during marriage - unless inherited, earned outside the home, or formally held in joint title. According to the Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan’s Beth Wilson, “In 1978, a Supreme Court of Canada decision denied Helen Rathwell of Tompkins, Saskatchewan, her claim to a share of half of the farm that she and her husband had worked on during their twenty-four-year marriage. The criticism generated by this case, along with others like Irene Murdoch's claim (Alberta), decided by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1975, and triggered a re-examination of the law. In 1980, a Matrimonial Property Act permitted a judge to assess the value of the contribution made by women's unpaid labour to the accumulation of family assets, and to allocate a share of the property to the wife.” As time went on, and women continued their fight for equality, land ownership became an attainable goal.

Fast forward to the present, according to the 2021 Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Mortgage consumer survey, 58% of first-time home owners were women, and 49% were repeat home owners. This is an incredible feat as women still only earn 76.8 cents to every dollar a man earns, and that gap is wider for women who are Indigenous, living with a disability, racialized or are newcomers, according to Statistics Canada.

Given the centuries of patriarchal ruling, women have fought their way to equal rights, one of those rights in being able to own property. Now women are excelling at that, because they excel at everything they put their mind too!