Influences on the political and economic status of women in Canada between World Wars I and II are discussed, with emphasis on the struggle to enfranchise women on the provincial level, legislative precedents, and the relationship between educational achievement and economic opportunity. Data are derived from historical accounts; trade union annals; government decrees such as the War Time Elections Act (1917), the Military Voters Act (1917), and the Women's Minimum Wage Act (1935); records from activist organizations such as the Women's Christian Temperance Union, the National Council of Women, the League for Women's Rights, and the Association of Women Property Owners; the Department of Labor; national and provincial records of women in public office; and court cases, including the "persons" case--a 1916 reversal of a British Common Law decision in 1876 that women were "persons in matters of pains and penalties but not in matters of rights or privileges." Findings from the overview of data from these and other sources indicated that womens' political and economic advancement during the period between the two world wars was determined largely by two factors. They were the conservative nature of the social milieu (and, in Quebec, the conservatism of the Catholic church) and forces generated in the economy (overall loss of jobs during the depression and a corresponding increase in outright discrimination against women whose search for employment was considered as tantamount to taking jobs away from men, token employment of women in many industries, and apparent economic advancement which disappeared in the face of inflation). The conclusion is that while social and economic development combined with the efforts of women to promote their own political and economic welfare led to real and significant political advances, they produced only illusory economic gains. (DB)