Test your knowledge of women’s achievements with this quiz compiled by the Saskatchewan government’s women’s secretariat for International Women’s Day, March 8.
1. According to the United Nations Development Fund for Women, what percentage of households in developing countries are totally dependent on a woman for their livelihood?
a) 15%
b) 10%
c) 40%
d) 33%
2. Who said “Never retract, never explain, never apologize. Get the thing done and let them howl?”
a) Barb Byers
b) Judy Rebick
c) Nellie McClung
Read Also
Man charged after assault at grain elevator
RCMP have charged a 51-year-old Weyburn man after an altercation at the Pioneer elevator at Corinne, Sask. July 22.
d) Charlotte Whitton
3. Who was the first woman elected premier of a province?
a) Sharon Carstairs
b) Lynn McLeod
c) Catherine Callbeck
d) Rita Johnston
4. In 1992, this woman was appointed Secretary-General for the 1995 World Conference on Women:
a) Margaret Thatcher
b) Corazon Aquinoc
c) Benazir Bhutto
d) Gertrude Mongella
5. A 1985 UN report on the State of the World’s Women emphasized one fundamental obstacle to the advancement of women. What was it?
a) a woman’s domestic role as wife and mother
b)violence against women
c) poverty
6. Which province first passed pay equity legislation?
a) British Columbia
b) Manitoba
c)Ontario
d) Nova Scotia
7. Of the total number of undergraduates in Canadian universities in 1991 approximately 50 percent were women. What percentage of the women who graduated were from an engineering or applied science program?
a) 8%
b) 15%
c) 5%
d) 22%
8. In 1993, the average proportion of women represented in world parliaments was:
a) 18%
b) 21%
c) 10.31%
d) 25.8%
9. On May 3, 1990, the Supreme Court ruled against the battered wife syndrome as a legitimate defence against a murder charge.
a) True
b) False
10. In 1991, what percentage of lone parents in Canada were women?
a) 91%
b) 82%
c) 76%
d) 67%
11. Between 1984 and 1993, the number of federally-appointed women judges tripled. Women now make up what percentage of the total?
a) 15%
b) 33%
c) 25%
d) 10%
Answers
1.d. According to UNIFEM, one of every three households in developing countries is totally dependent on a woman for its livelihood.
2.c. Canadian suffragette, Nellie McClung. She was elected to the Alberta legislature in 1921. In 1928, McClung was one of the signatories of the “Person’s Case”.
3.c. March 29, 1993, Catherine Callbeck became the first elected female provincial premier in Canada in Prince Edward Island.
4.d. Gertrude Mongella of Tanzania. She has previously served as her country’s High Commissioner to India, and held several portfolios in the Tanzanian government. She headed Tanzania’s delegation to the Third World Conference on Women in 1985 and was one of the vice-presidents of the conference.
5. a. A woman’s domestic role as wife and mother (which is vital to the well-being of society) is unpaid and undervalued, said the report. These domestic responsibilities restrict women’s ability to pursue education, to earn a good wage, to follow a career or to fully participate in political activities.
6. b. In 1985, Manitoba became the first province to pass pay equity legislation. This law applies to provincial government employees. Ontario is the only province to extend pay equity legislation to the private sector.
7. a. Eight percent of the women who graduated in 1991 earned degrees in applied science and engineering.
8. c. According to a recent survey conducted by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) — the world organization of parliaments, globally, women make up 10.31 percent of representatives in lower chambers and 8.55 percent in upper chambers. The number has continued to decrease since hitting a peak of 14.6 percent in 1988. Canada currently ranks 14th in the world in terms of representation of women in Parliament.
9. b. False. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the battered wife. The judges said in Lavallee vs The Queen that Angelique Lyn Lavallee of Winnipeg did, indeed, act in self-defence after she shot and killed her common-law husband, who had repeatedly abused her. Madame Justice Bertha Wilson wrote the opinion.
10. b. 82 percent. In 1991, there were almost one million lone-parent families in Canada, up by 34 percent from 1981. A total of 16 percent of all Canadian families are headed by a lone female parent.
11. a. From 1984 to 1993, the number of federally appointed women judges increased from 37 to 110 and now stands at 15 percent of the total.
