All else must wait : Saskatchewan women and the great depression
| dc.contributor.author | Wallace, Wendy Eileen | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-08-15T20:13:09Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-08-15T20:13:09Z | |
| dc.date.copyright | 1988 | en_US |
| dc.date.issued | 1988 | |
| dc.degree.department | Department of History | |
| dc.degree.level | Master of Arts M.A. | en |
| dc.description.abstract | In this thesis I have attempted to recreate the reality of life in the 1930s as experienced by the women of Saskatchewan. That this group as a whole has largely been ignored by historians writing on the Depression is understandable as, unlike men, women staged no marches, protests or riots. Yet unemployment was a reality for some of them; so too were relief lines and poverty. Most were mothers, who faced the daily problem of trying to keep children clothed and fed on very little money. Unlike women in British Columbia or in Eastern Canada, they also faced the problems that came with a seven year drought. In seeking to discover how the Depression affected Saskatchewan women, both individually and as group, I have made extensive use of letters written to newspapers, particularly to the women's page of The Western Producer, and to Prime Minister Bennett (the latter are located in the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa). Published local histories, interviews, questionnaires plus correspondence with thirty-nine women in Saskatchewan helped flesh out the Depression story. In looking at these women's experiences it is apparent that many of them shared a poverty that is largely unknown in Canada today. Without the assistance of today's programs of unemployment insurance and welfare, some faced starvation. For the most part, women helped each other as government assistance was often too little and too late. In groups they sought to alleviate the immediate problems of their unemployed sisters; individually they reached out to provide comfort and assistance where needed. The Depression experience served to reinforce the concept of the home as the "proper sphere" for women and to reduce their stature in the labour force. | |
| dc.format.extent | 240 pages | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1828/20028 | |
| dc.rights | Available to the World Wide Web | en_US |
| dc.title | All else must wait : Saskatchewan women and the great depression | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
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