The Council has concerned itself in areas including women's suffrage, immigration, health care, education, mass media, the environment, and many others.

By May 1893, the IWC World's Congress of Representative Women had met in Chicago and discussed creating a Canadian Council.

The Council formally began its existence on October 27 at a public meeting at the Horticultural Pavilion of the Allan Gardens in Toronto.

The organization then creates briefs (formal papers based on policy), which suggest a course of action and are submitted to an official body, such as a government.

The Council played a key role in creating the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Children's Aid Society, and the Consumers' Association of Canada.

The Council has also fought controversial battles, such as broadening the grounds for divorce, wider availability of birth control information, removing abortion from the Criminal Code, and programs to protect and rehabilitate prostitutes.

[4] The organization holds Consultative Status (II) with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

Augusta Stowe-Gullen, one of the Society's co-founding members, was the first woman to earn a medical degree in Canada and was an important figure in the women's suffrage movement.

[2] Each of The Famous Five (Emily Murphy, Irene Parlby, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, Henrietta Edwards) were members in the organization.