In 1876, Stowe founded the Toronto Women's Literary Club, renamed the Canadian Women's Suffrage Association in 1883. This has led some to consider Stowe the mother of the suffrage movement in Canada. The Literary Club campaigned for improved working conditions for women and pressured schools in Toronto to accept women into higher education. In 1883, a public meeting of the Suffrage Association led to the creation of the Ontario Medical College for Women. When the Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Association was founded in 1889, Stowe became its first president and remained president until her death. In 1889, Stowe helped create a nationwide organization devoted to female suffrage called the Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Association.