Introduction

Elise Chenier, McGill University, 2003

What could you expect out of life if you were born a girl at the time of Confederation? A lot depended on where you were born, but even more than that, your fate depended on who you had as parents. If your father was a wealthy Scottish-Canadian merchant in Montreal, you might become a member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union and lead the fight for the vote for women, or you might grow up to be the first woman to earn a university degree. If you were born into a French-Canadian family in Rougemont, you would be part of the first generation of young women with three, not two choices: to get married and become a farmer's wife, to join a convent or to move to the city for a factory job. If you chose the city, you would likely find yourself working alongside young Irishwomen, and together you would work 12-hour days with only half an hour for lunch. If your brother worked alongside you, he'd be earning three times as much for the same job, but you couldn't afford to get angry-at least, not with him. If you wanted to have a good time at the vaudeville show on the weekend, you'd need him to take you. Girls weren't allowed alone out after dark, and your parents were not about to let you socialize with other boys without a chaperone.

There was no single experience that defined women, but most had one thing in common: they were expected to live according to the "feminine ideal." This was the Victorian era; women were thought to be physically fragile and were expected to be sexually chaste and subservient to men. The few that fit this ideal met with social approval, but those that did not measure up could expect quite different treatment. Some, including Aboriginal women and Chinese immigrants, as well as the working classes and Jewish Canadians, would never be accepted as virtuous, no matter how well they followed the rules of proper living.

The feminine ideal placed considerable restraints on women, restraints that made everyday life much different from a man's. The law treated them as children, they could not cast a vote for a provincial or federal politician and they could not file a lawsuit. Women could not even hold a bank account in their own name. Not surprisingly, women looked for ways to escape these limitations and demanded that they be treated as citizens on a par with men. By 1896 most women enjoyed the right to own property, the right to earn a university degree and the right to become a doctor or a lawyer.

In spite of the prohibitions women faced, they were at the centre of growth and change in Canada. They laboured on farms and in their homes, producing essential goods like clothing and food and selling them at a profit in local markets. They gave birth to children, volunteered time to church and community organizations, and worked as teachers and nurses. Young women also provided most of the labour that kept factories running. Between 1867 and 1896, women laid the groundwork for a century of struggle culminating in full citizenship rights for all female citizens. Despite these accomplishments, women young and old continue to come up against taboos and prohibitions based on old ideas about proper female behaviour