Women and Work: Analyzing the Mixed Economy in Qikiqtarjuaq, Nunavut

WOMEN AND WORK: ANALYZING THE MIXED ECONOMY IN QIKIQTARJUAQ, NUNAVUT Written By: Jocelyn B. 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Canada ABSTRACT This thesis examines the condition of the mixed economy from the perspective of women's work in the Nunavut community of Qikiqtarjuaq. The focus of the project was to decide if the mixed economy persists in Inuit communities today, or if Inuit have moved into a new form of economy. I explored two definitions of the mixed economy. First, that as a group, women divide their time approximately evenly between monetary and subsistence pursuits; and second, that women devote their time to activities which support their male partners in hunting. A survey was used as the primary research tool to gather data from 103 women regarding how they spent their time over a one month period in spring 2010. Results show that although most women are unemployed, women spend much more time involved in wage work, than being involved in traditional activities such as sewing, butchering, cleaning seal skins and going on the land. Women over forty were more heavily involved in wage employment, were more heavily engaged in subsistence activities and spent more nights on the land than women in their twenties. Various theories emerge as to the cause of the demise in the practice of traditional skills. Namely, the shift in the interactions between men and women within the mixed economy, the choice of young women to move away from traditional subsistence activities, and finally, that women have less time to engage in subsistence projects and to spend time on the land, since they are often kept up in their jobs during the week. I conclude that the mixed economy no longer exists in the community as an integrated whole where men and women's labour is mutually supportive and where money and hunting complement each other. Instead, the value of land and subsistence based activities have shifted from a need for survival to a resource for leisure. 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the following people for their time, support and guidance during the completion of this project. First, I would like to thank Dr. Martha Dowsley for her supervision and continued support over the last 2 years. To the women and men of Qikiqtarjuaq, NU, you are the reason that I have a thesis. Thank you for opening my eyes to life in the North. I would also like to thank my internal committee, Dr. Robert Stewart and Dr. Mitchell Taylor for overseeing my thesis in the editorial stages, as well as my external committee, Dr. Peter Collings from the University of Florida. I would like to extend my gratitude to all of the students in the MES/NECU program, past and present. I would like to give personal thanks to all of my loving friends and to my community in Thunder Bay. In particular, I want to thank you Jenna, for not only being my kindred friend, but for loving me just as I am. Finally, I want to thank everyone in my family for your light, love and support. I want to thank my mom and two sisters who I learn from every day. I look up to you with eyes of admiration. You are the reason that I am where I am today. This thesis is dedicated to all the people in my life who have taught me to fight when I was weak, and to fly when I had no wings. "Reveal what lies within." -Neil Young 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS LETTER OF CONSENT ABSTRACT 1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 1.0 INTRODUCTION 5 1.1 RELEVANCE OF THE RESEARCH 7 1.2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 8 1.3 THESIS STRUCTURE 10 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 12 2.1 INTRODUCTION TO MODERNITY 14 2.2 DEVELOPMENT OF THE MIXED ECONOMY 15 2.2.1 Threats to the Mixed Economy 17 2.3 GENDER AND WORK 20 2.3.1 Men's Roles 21 2.3.2 Women's Roles 24 2.4 METHODOLOGICAL LITERATURE 26 3.0 METHODS 28 3.1 PROJECT STUDY SITE 29 3.2 RESEARCH METHOD 33 3.2.2.1 Participant Selection 34 3.2.2.2 Analysis Methods 35 Table 1.1 36 3.3.2.3 Statistical Tests 37 4.0 RESULTS 38 4.1 VARIABLES 39 Figure 4.1: Distribution of Female Ages from a Non-normal Population in Spring 2010 (n=T03) 39 Figure 4.2: Distribution of the Number of Sewing Projects Completed by Women from a Non-normal distribution in Spring 2010 (n=103) 39 Figure 4.3: Distribution of the Number of Nights Spent on the Land from a Non-normal Population in Spring 2010 (n=103) 40 Figure 4.4: Distribution of the Number of Seal Skins Cleaned by a Non-normal Population in Spring 2010 (n=79) 40 4.2. OBJECTIVE 1 40 Table 4.1 41 Table 4.2 44 Figure 4.5: The Frequency (with SE) of Women's Involvement in Subsistence Activities in Spring 2010 (n=103) 45 Table 4.3 46 Table 4.4 47 4.3 OBJECTIVE 2 47 Figure 4.6: Proportion of men who had been on the land in spring 2010 (n=103) 48 3 Table 4.5 49 Table 4.6 49 Figure 4.7: Average Income of Women vs. Level of Activity on the Land for the Oldest Man in each of the Women's Households (CI=0.95) (n=45) 50 Table 4.7 51 4.4 OBJECTIVE3 51 Table 4.8 52 Table 4.9 51 Figure 4.8: Proportion of Women Cleaning Animal Skins in Spring 2010 by 10-year Age Categories (n=103) 54 Figure 4.9: Proportion of Women Cleaning Seal Skins in Spring 2010 by 10-year Age Categories (n=103) 55 Figure 4.10: Proportion of Women Involved in Sewing in Spring 2010 by 10-year Age Categories (n=103) 56 Table 4.10 57 Figure 4.11: Proportion ofWomen in each Age Category Who Butchered an Animal in Spring 2010 (n=103) 58 5.0 DISCUSSION 59 6.0 CONCLUSION 78 REFERENCES 81 APPENDICES 88 4 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.0 Introduction Inuit were first exposed to the cash economy when early whalers and traders entered the north to hire Inuit workers and to purchase Inuit goods, such as seal skins, to sell in the international market. With cash income, Inuit were able to acquire modern hunting equipment, which made accessing the land easier, and hunting trips more efficient. However, in turn, as Inuit came to rely upon goods like snow machines and high powered rifles, cash income was required to support men's hunting activities. These wages were generated by men working blue collar, short term jobs like construction, which left them time to hunt, and women working service jobs like housekeeping (Billson and Mancini 2007; Dahl 2000; Dorais 1997; Kruse 1991). Still, 5 much of the income in the household was provided by the cleaning and selling of seal skins and was the focus of the economy. When the seal skin market collapsed in the early 1980s, seal skins were no longer a viable option for supporting the economy of Inuit communities (Wenzel 1991). While men continued to hunt, families had to invest more time into wage labour to compensate for the decline in the value for skins. At the same time, in an effort to support Canada's northern economies and people, Inuit men and women became highly vulnerable to the threats of marginalization and the subsidies coming up from the south. This not only affected the traditional connection that Inuit had with the land, but it affected the skills that were necessary for surviving in a remote environment.

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