Violet Clara McNaughton

McNaughton, Violet Clara

Violet Clara McNaughton, née Jackson, journalist, feminist leader (b at Borden, Eng 11 Nov 1879; d at Saskatoon 3 Feb 1968). In 1912 the McNaughtons joined the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association and jointly became secretary-treasurer of the Hillview local. Violet's insistence on being recognized as a delegate to the 1913 SGGA convention led to a special "Women's Congress," and an organizing committee for a women's section, with Violet as secretary, was created. When the section was organized in 1914, McNaughton was elected president (1914-17). In 1915, she sparked the formation of the Saskatchewan Equal Franchise League, which was primarily responsible for gaining the franchise for women a year later. In 1919 she became president of the Interprovincial Council of Farm Women and, in that post, became a prominent national feminist leader. She was elected to the board of the SGGA in the early 1920s and was important in the Saskatchewan and national Progressive movements, helping to formulate the platform for the PROGRESSIVE PARTY in 1921. From 1925 to 1950 she edited the "Mainly for Women" page in The Western Producer.