By the 1890s, large numbers of middle-class women had formed religious, cultural, political, and philanthropic organizations. The National Council of Women of Canada was created in 1893 and lasted until 1929. Lady Aberdeen served as president of the Council from 1893 to 1899. This picture of the NCWC was taken in October of 1898 at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Ontario (Lord and Lady Aberdeen center). The formation of this society marked the shift from small, regionally oriented women's groups to a cooperative federation run on the national level. It was to become the strongest woman's group in Canada and provided women with the strength to take a more active role in national reforms. As well as agitating on the behalf of women, they pursued reforms that affected all Canadians, such as housing, immigration, education and public health. They were convinced that social improvement would guarantee social control.
Within the first year of its existence, societies from coast to coast affiliated themselves with the NCWC at the national level. These were: The Aberdeen Association, the Woman's Art Association, the Girls' Friendly Society; the Dominion Order of the King's Daughters, and the Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Association.
Lady Aberdeen was devoted to the traditional roles of women, and to this end she favoured the ideal of maternalism, evangelism, and liberalism. Such a view tended to put in the background the concern for women suffrage, yet she realised that the majority of her supporters were not suffragists. After 1893, however, the Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Association joined the ranks of the federation, and in 1910 the NCWC formally embraced the suffrage cause.
