- Title:
- The empire is woman's sphere : organized female imperialism in Canada, 1880-1920s
- Creator:
- Gaudet, Lisa
- Date Created:
- 2001
- Degree Awarded:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Subjects:
- gender class race nation building
- Geographical Focus:
- Canada
- Supporting Materials:
- n/a
- Description:
- As a study of organized female imperialism within the IODE, the Girls' Friendly Society, and the Girl Guides between the 1880s and the 1920s, this dissertation contributes to both national history and the history of women in Canada. It challenges conventional narratives of a unitary national history by highlighting the operations of gender, class, and race in the process of nation-building. Through the gendered work of educating women and children and attending to the issues of reproduction and morality, organized female imperialists helped to install definitions of Canadian citizenship and informal systems of governance that served the interests of the Anglo-Saxon middle class. A staunch commitment to British imperialism fueled this nation-building work. At a time when rapid immigration, urbanization, and secularization were transforming the character of the nation. the leading ladies of these organizations promoted the imperial ideals of selflessness, deference, and duty as the best hope for an orderly society. Long after the close of the First World War, they celebrated Canada’s intimate affiliations with the history, traditions, and monarchism of the British empire as the core of the Canadian national identity. Their transatlantic connections and identification with a Britannic national family gave white, middle- class women a powerful public role as the “mothers of the race.” These external connections both point to the porous nature of nation formation and complicate the assumption that Canadian imperialism was simply a form of Canadian nationalism.
Source
- Preferred Citation:
- Gaudet, Lisa. 2001. "The empire is woman's sphere : organized female imperialism in Canada, 1880-1920s", Department of History, Carleton University
- Link to this page:
- https://cuhistory.github.io/grads/items/hist_184.html
Rights
- Rights:
- Copyright the author, all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.