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Wives and mothers, schoolmistresses and scullery maids : working women in Upper Canada, 1790-1840 / Elizabeth Jane Errington

Author
Errington, Elizabeth Jane, 1951-
Published
Montreal [Que.] : McGill-Queen's University Press, 1995.
Physical Description
1 online resource (xix, 375 pages) : illustrations, map, portraits
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Series
Language Note
English.
Contents
Contents -- Maps and Illustrations -- Preface -- 1 Prologue: The Howling Wilderness and Fruitful Fields -- PART ONE: AROUND THE DOMESTIC HEARTH: WIVES AND MOTHERS AND REPRODUCTION IN UPPER CANADA -- 2 The Most Important Crisis: Marriage in Upper Canada -- 3 A Fountain of Life to Her Children: Mothering in Upper Canada -- PART TWO: WOMAN IS A BIT OF A SLAVE IN THIS COUNTRY: THE HOUSEWIFE AND HER HELP -- 4 Prime Minister of the House: Colonial Housekeepers -- 5 The Ordinary Sort of Canadian Servant: Helping and the Neighbour's Girl, PART THREE: A SENSE OF DECORUM AND SERVICE: THE WORLD OF THE COLONIAL ARISTOCRACY6 No End to the Wants: Living and Working in the Big House -- 7 Social Obligations and Angelic Ministrations: Society Matrons and Crusading Ladies -- PART FOUR: BEYOND THE BOUNDS OF DOMESTICITY: SURROGATE HUSBANDS AND INDEPENDENT BUSINESS WOMEN -- 8 Requesting Their Patronage: Milliners, Mantuamakers, and Wage-earning Women in Upper Canada -- 9 Ladies' Academies and Seminaries of Respectability: Training Good Women of Upper Canada -- 10 Epilogue, and Appendix One: Patterns of Women's Part-time EmploymentAppendix Two: Women in the Needle Trades in York, Upper Canada -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- W -- Y
Summary
"Jane Errington argues that the role of Upper Canadian women in the overall economy of the early colonial period has been greatly undervalued by contemporary historians, and illustrates how the work they did, particularly as wives and mothers, played a significant role in the development of the colony." "Errington explores evidence of a distinctive women's culture and shows that the work women did constituted a common experience shared by Upper Canadian women. Most women in Upper Canada not only experienced the uncertainties of marriage and the potential dangers of childbirth but also took part in making sure that the needs of their families were met. How women met their numerous responsibilities differed, however. Age, location, marital status, class, and society's changing expectations of women all had a direct impact on what was expected of them, what they did, and how they did it." "Considering "women's work" within the social and historical context, Errington shows that the complexity of colonial society cannot be understood unless the roles and work of women in Upper Canada are taken into account."--Jacket
Subject(s)
Genre(s)
ISBN
9780773565449 (electronic bk.)
0773565442 (electronic bk.)
0773513094
9780773513099
0773513108
9780773513105
1282857509
9781282857506
9786612857508
6612857501
Bibliography Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
View MARC record | catkey: 43161134