Bigamy in the Northern Alberta Judicial District, 1886–1969: A Socially Constructed Crime that Failed to Impose Gender Barriers

Abstract

Bigamy is still a criminal offense under the Canadian Criminal Code, one which is liable to up to five years imprisonment. Although modern social values and a certain relaxation of specific gender expectations make it easier for women to commit bigamy, in the popular imagination bigamy is a masculine crime. A close analysis of the Criminal Code and its application reflect differentiation of roles based on gender—that is, gender socialization. Yet evidence from the Edmonton judicial district between 1886 and 1969 shows that both men and women engaged in the crime. Indeed, considering the historical context, women committed bigamy at a higher rate that one would normally expect.

Marriage, Military, and War: Prosecuting Bigamy in Victoria, Australia 1914–1945

“…26 Méthot, examining bigamy cases across nineteenth-and twentieth-century Alberta, argues that society viewed cases of male and female bigamy very differently, and this influenced the lower rate of prosecutions of women. 27 When men committed bigamy, they were deemed as having "ruined" their second wife by essentially obtaining sexual intercourse under false pretenses; some judges even likened the offense to rape, but where fraud not force was used. Given the sexual double standard, the same "harm" was not caused to men duped into bigamous marriages by women.…”