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

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Errington, Elizabeth Jane, 1951-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women--Ontario--Social conditions.

Women.

Women--Ontario--History--19th century.

Women--Employment--Ontario--History--19th century.

Physical Description:

xix, 375 p. : ill., map, ports. ; 24 cm.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Buffalo : McGill-Queen's University Press, 1995.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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 of them 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 actually fulfilled 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.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Maps and Illustrations

Preface

Prologue: The Howling Wilderness and Fruitful Fields

“Around the Domestic Hearth”: Wives and Mothers and Reproduction in Upper Canada

“The Most Important Crisis“: Marriage in Upper Canada

“A Fountain of Life to Her Children”: Mothering in Upper Canada

“Woman is a Bit of a Slave in This Country”: The Housewife and Her Help

“Prime Minister of the House”: Colonial Housekeepers

“The Ordinary Sort of Canadian Servant”: Helping and the Neighbour’s Girl

“A Sense of Decorum” and “Service”: The World of the Colonial “Aristocracy”

“No End to the Wants“: Living and Working in the ”Big“ House

“Social Obligations“ and “Angelic Ministrations”: Society Matrons and Crusading Ladies

Beyond the Bounds of Domesticity: Surrogate Husbands and Independent Business Women

“Requesting Their Patronage”: Milliners, Mantuamakers, and Wage-earning Women in Upper Canada

Ladies’ Academies and “Seminaries of Respectability”: Training “Good” Women of Upper Canada

Epilogue

Appendices

Patterns of Women’s Part-time Employment, 1832-40

Women in the Needle Trades in York, Upper Canada

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographic references (p. [357]-366) and index.

ISBN:

1-282-85750-9

9786612857508

0-7735-6544-2

OCLC:

1148072682