Female Participation in Nova Scotia's Paid Labour Force, 1871-1921 by Muise D.A - Article Example

and Sur Due The Industrial Context of Inequality Female Participation in Nova Scotias Paid Labor Force 1871-1921 A Critical Review The study is a well researched article on the status of women, their work environment and contribution as a labor force in the Nova Scotia province of Canada which juts out in peculiar isolation from the mainland into the Atlantic Ocean. The region’s geographical isolation from the mainland had resulted in a mixed population with diverse cultures, ethnicity and religious beliefs which influenced the work culture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century which stimulated this research. The author, Muise D.A., builds upon the status of women in society during that period by anecdotal portrayal of women and their preoccupations in the region, according to their social status as well as religious backgrounds. At the outset, he has picked up three women Mary, Georgina and Daisy (pseudonyms) with diverse backgrounds and illustrated their struggle in society to sustain and establish their identity as independent individuals under different circumstances. The article has been reinforced with data and doctoral studies of a wide variety of people, organizations and students. According to the author, the society in Nova Scotia was dominated by the Anglo Protestants who formed the majority of the middle class and the servants were usually Acadians and Roman Catholics. He has provided data to prove his statements in the article about the sparse population of the area and underdevelopment of industry. The author explains how women were mostly confined to domestic chores and worked as servants, teachers or maids to make a living with incomes which were barely enough for subsistence. According to the figures provided, $ 200 was considered a modest salary for a woman which was almost half of what the males earned in similar jobs. Families of coalminers with more sons than daughters had a bigger income, as the women were underpaid. The article provides evidence for the reasons why women preferred the low paid jobs in mills in urban areas to that of domestic servants of the predominant middle class society. The author has focused his study on how the women had to struggle and successfully emerge as a workforce during the industrialization of Nova Scotia, particularly in the prominent towns of Yarmouth, Amherst and Sydney Mines. Although the overall population growth of the province was static during the early twentieth century, there was a trend among the people and specially women to move into these urban areas. The author cites a number of studies conducted by prominent historians in the very beginning and highlights their prominent features in footnotes. For example in one of the footnotes (No.8), the author has highlighted the fact that women preferred to work in the factories as labor only till their early or mid twenties after which they dropped these jobs. Similar evidence for a steady growth rate in the female work force from 1871 to 1921 which increased to almost 1/3rd of the men’s strength is given in Table I. This growth rate, the author claims was parallel to and the result of urbanization of the three main towns. These points have been proven with reliable data sourced from the cited articles as well as data obtained from the historical records of the factories during that period, which had been obtained from the respective towns. The author lays emphasis on the fact that this region lagged behind because it was not in touch with the Canadian mainstream. Fresh impetus in the area was revived only after positive growth in Canadian economy which was spurred by industrialization. Railroad development further increased the business contact of Nova Scotia with rest of the nation and the region rapidly developed into an organized and planned area with establishment of ‘institutional structures’ and ‘local governments’ who wielded increasing control in running public affairs. The impact reinforcement of mining activities had on the development of new industries such as steel is well illustrated in the article. The entrepreneurial skills of the migrant Americans in Yarmouth and Pictou towns, developed industry to such an extent that exports of finished steel goods such as engines, steam powered boats, yarn, woolen and shoes began both nationally and internationally. This fact is considered as an important aspect by the author in the modernization resulting in more opportunities for the workforce including women. The author cites reasons for women not being part of the steel and the foundry works due to the nature and intensity of work involved which was more suitable for men folk. Women therefore, the author reasons, were given jobs in the sail cloth manufacturing and woolen industries in Yarmouth. Factual data has been provided for similar developments in Amherst which was basically rich in agriculture and lumbering. This seems true due to the forests and landscape peculiar to that area. Amherst emerged as a major supplier of wooden railroad and mining wagons as well steam engines to the region as well as the international market. It developed both woolen and shoe industries like Yarmouth in which women had an increasing presence as a work force. The author insists and proves with figures, how ‘Sydney Mines’ which was predominantly a coal mining area was controlled by people of British descent and their unanimous control of the steel industry lead to its failure. The women workforce was negligible in this town due to the nature of industry which could be handled by only the much sturdier male workforce. The author has cited the reasons behind the lack of job opportunities for women from 1871 to 1900 as diversity in culture, ethnicity as well as religion. He has highlighted the tendency of women for seeking work in accordance with their abilities, and not sticking to generally accepted feminine jobs at home in a dominant male society. The article gives reasons for the women shifting from the traditional work of seamstresses, servants, and milliners to clerical jobs, show room assistants, telephone operators, stenographers and secretarial assistants after the development of towns and modern industry. The author argues that wage parity with their male colleagues was hampered by the less overall time women spent working in years due to cessation of work after marriage. Males on the other hand reached the peak of their career mostly after attaining the age of 30 and they continued working after marriage, earning more due to the extended span of working years. The author in his article has then shifted his focus on the role of ethnicity, religion, rural and urban upbringing as determinants of employment patterns in the three major towns incorporated in this study. The author has highlighted the plight of the Acadian people who were employed in lower jobs due to lack of knowledge of the English Language which was predominant in urban areas. These facts are believable as generally all over the world ethnicity and language play important roles in determining the nature and workforce of a society. This is true for the present era as well and must have been truer in those primitive times in a land separated from rest of the world due to its unique geographical location. The proliferation of education in Amherst and Yarmouth but not in Sydney Mines due to the absence of the middle class in that area is understandable. The author has stressed on the fact that female teachers though a major workforce were not paid as highly as their male counterparts. Data for teachers has been shown in a graphical representation in Figure 7 in the article. The fact that the top supervisory positions were dominated by males and their salaries were almost double than their female counterparts in the teaching department is understandable. The fact that females were discouraged from teaching after marriage and if reemployed due to widowhood, they were not given salaries commensurate with their experience has been proven in the article and the injustice they suffered while deciding their salaries has been shown in a tabulated comparison of male and female teachers. Acadian and Catholics were usually not part of the educational process and were workers in factories or servants in middle class homes due to illiteracy, claims the author. The young Acadian boys and their sisters were exploited by the factory owners who kept their wages low and replaced them with newcomers from rural areas. The article throws great insights into the society that existed in Nova Scotia and how it struggled in a religiously, ethnically and sexually polarized world in the earlier part of the twentieth century. Consistent efforts by the women and the minorities did result in some balance in the character of the society in the latter half of the researched period but it was more influenced by the spread of capitalism and more control by the major Canadian political influences in the region, which curbed the practices of the local industry and way of life and forced it to follow more cosmopolitan approaches to its economy. Disparities between sexes and ethnic communities however continued to flourish all along this period with only minor variations. The women struggled bravely all along this period despite the discriminatory practices in force and played an equal if not better role in the development of Nova Scotia. The author has proven these facts in a very comprehensive manner and has provided adequate data as well as documented records to substantiate the claims made by him. The research has been conducted very minutely although conclusions may have been drawn with a more modern and cosmopolitan attitude as it is difficult to visualize from mere recorded data the society of a past era when scientific facts had not been incorporated into human life and the means of communication were less. Cultural background, religion and ethnicity played major influences on the psyche in those times and women were usually frowned upon when they tried to compete with men for work. The author’s data and research however points to a gradual shift in the attitude of people of Nova Scotia and more role of women in the workforce which may have been more of a necessity rather than a shift in attitude and cultural norms of that time. Read More