Quaile Meredithleigh.Pdf
SISTERS IN TOIL: THE PROGRESSIVE DEY ALUATION AND DEFEMINIZATION OF ONTARIO DAIRYWOMEN'S WORK AND TOOLS, 1813-1914 by © Meredith Leigh Quaile A thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History, Faculty of Arts Memorial University of Newfoundland & Labrador June 2010 St. John's Newfoundland & Labrador Abstract In nineteenth and early-twentieth century Ontario, dairywomen toiled daily with cows and manure, sour milk and greasy butter, yet without improved apparatus, agricultural education, or male support. On the provincial family farm, milking, cream separating, and butter-making chores included various time-consuming steps, physical labour, and an array of task-specific objects. This thesis analyses agriculture, and dairying in specific, as it began the transition from traditional to industri al, and consequently from female to male. This dissertation touches on particular topics relevant to farmwomen's labour, including: agricultural education and improvement through science; public debate and perception surrounding gendered work; the government's role in promoting industrialization and thus defeminization; the concept of the dairyqueen in technological advertising; and, in particular, real farmwomen. These dairying 'sisters' include the well known , like Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Trail! , Laura Rose, and El iza Jones, and the unknown, such as Mary Newsam and the Hallen sisters, wh il e focusing on Lamira Billings and her daughters Sabra and Sally. This qualitative study reveals that by empl oying common dairy tools as a dominant, primary source, there are alternative perspectives from whi ch to consider rural women's ex peri ences.
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