Clara Brett Martin

Clara Brett Martin (25 January 1874 – 30 October 1923) was a Canadian lawyer. She opened the way for women to become lawyers in Canada by being the first in the British Empire in 1897.

Quotes about Clara Brett Martin

• Defying all predictions, the young Clara, who would later be pronounced attractive, graceful, and possessed of “treasured feminine charms,” majored in mathematics and graduated with a BA and high honours on 27 June 1890, at the age of 16.
  • Backhouse, Constance (2005) Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. XV (1921–1930)

• Despite Martin's heroic trailblazing, not until the middle of the 20th century did significant numbers of women enter the legal profession in Canada.
  • John D. Blackwell Clara Brett Martin Retrieved March 4, 2015

• Despite the rejection, Martin persisted. Optimistically, or perhaps naively, she appealed to what she considered the "broad spirit of liberality and fairness" characteristic of the legal profession.
  • Laura Neilson Bonikowsky Clara Brett Martin: Hero or Villain? Retrieved March 4, 2015

• With the support of such influential people as Dr. Emily Stowe and Sir Oliver Mowat, Martin's appeal led to the passage of a provincial act allowing women to become solicitors.
  • Laura Neilson Bonikowsky Clara Brett Martin: Hero or Villain? Retrieved March 4, 2015

• Looking back at Martin's treatment by a patriarchal regime, it is abhorrent today that a woman could be denied personhood and thereby be barred from admittance to an organization for which she was well-qualified.
  • Laura Neilson Bonikowsky Clara Brett Martin: Hero or Villain? Retrieved March 4, 2015

• Martin was not a leader of the women's movement, but she worked diligently to promote opportunities for women.
  • Laura Neilson Bonikowsky Clara Brett Martin: Hero or Villain? Retrieved March 4, 2015