Gauvin Gentzel Co., Winnipeg

A portrait of United Farm Women of Alberta president, UFA MLA, activist, and diplomat Irene Parlby of Alix.

Irene Parlby became involved in women's organizations in 1913 when she was appointed secretary of the Alix Country Women's Club. One of her accomplishments in this role was the founding of a local library; she had solicited the books from a newspaper advertisement and friends in England. In 1915 Irene and other members of the Alix club went on to establish the first United Farm Women of Alberta (UFWA) local in Alix. A year later Irene Parlby became president of the UFWA and then in 1919 became the first woman officer of the United Farmers of Alberta. In her inaugural report as a member of the UFA Executive Mrs. Parlby stated: "Neither men nor women know everything; women know many things that men do not know, men know many things that women do not know. Men and women together know everything that is known." In 1921, she was elected to the provincial legislature as a member of the UFA and appointed Minister without Portfolio in the new UFA government. She was the second woman in Canada to become a provincial cabinet minister. Irene Parlby was also one of the "Famous Five", the group of women who worked for suffrage, property rights and the right for women to be legally judged as "Persons" in Canada. In 1930 she was became one of three Canadian delegates to the Assembly of the League of Nations. Mrs. Parlby retired from politics in 1935.