Penelope’s Web: Some Perceptions of Women in European and Canadian Society by N.E.S. Griffiths (review)

REVIEWS 485 nor the hoursof the MunicipalReferenceLibrary. For the Ontario Archiveshe describes onlythehistorical atlases andthephotograph collection, withnoreference tothegreatwealthof localmaterialin itsrecords, manuscripts, andmapcollections. Severalobvious institutions and sources are omittedcompletely, althoughthe appendixcontains alistofarchives in OntariotakenfromtheUnion ListofManuscripts, aswellasalistofOntariohistorical societies. Thereisalso abibliography ofToronto history,based onthebibliography published in •969in Stevenson andArmstrong's Approaches toTeaching Local History butwithsomeomissions, mostnotablytheentire section on post-Confederation Toronto.Only four titlespublished since•969 have been added, one with its author misspelled; in this period a number of other significantbookson Toronto have appeared,suchas Morton'sMayorHowland, Goheen's Victorian Toronto, Thompson's Spadina, and,mostimportant,Glazebrook's TheStory ofToronto, probablythebestgeneralhistoryof thecity. Scott's surveyof the possibilities of Toronto localhistoryis sopoor that it isof extremelylimitedvalueevenfor Torontoteachers. Fortheteacherelsewhere in the province itisalmost useless, because thewealthof resources inTorontomakes it very different from most other communities in Ontario. There is, however, some more generalinformation, including briefdirections for oralhistoryprojects andexcerpts from tworeportsof localhistoryworkin elementaryschools in TorontoandCardinal , Ontario. The kit contains material from the Historical and Museums Branch of the OntarioMinistryof CultureandRecreation,theOntario Archives,theToronto Board of Education, and Learnxs Press. In sucha basicguide,it isdifficultto beoriginal,butScottdoesnotalways even rewritehisunacknowledged sources; for example, compare hispage• withpages •2o-• in Approaches to Teaching LocalHistory, or hisdescription of the valueof newspapers onpage2withpage•6 in thesame book. Obviously Scott began withlittleknowledge of hissubject anddidnotspendmuch time in compilinghis guide. The resultis virtually useless for the teachersit is intendedto help. It is unfortunatethat a governmentgrant wasgivenfor such shoddywork. EDITH G. FIRTH Metropolitan Toronto Library Penelope's Web:Some Perceptions of Women in European andCanadian Society. •.w.s. GR•T•S. Toronto,OxfordUniversity Press, •976.Pp.249,illus.$4.95. 'To whatextent...isprejudice anddiscrimination against womenafundamental part of western civilization?' To seek an answer Griffiths has scanned the seventeenth to twentieth centuries choosing theformerasastarting pointfornootherreason thanit is her mainareaof expertise.Shearguesthat althoughthe seventeenth century discriminated against women,it wasnotasexist society. Butthiswastochange. The riseof the stateand itsincumbentbureaucracy eventuallymadeitselffelt on the villagecommune.Coincidentwasthe riseof townsand in them Griffithsfindsher villain. There prejudiceagainstwomen prevailedand oncecommunications increased theruralareas became infected bythesocial normsoftheurbancentres. The 486 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW thesis isa fascinating one,full of complexity asindeedanythesis describing change overseveralcenturies wouldbe, and Griffithsdeserves creditfor evenattempting such a task. However,recitalsof individualwomenwho'made'it are simplynot sufficient proof that seventeenth-century society wasnon sexist, assimilarincidences canbe found in anycentury.Neither are the magicwordsindustrialization and urbanizationsatisfactory ascausal explanations ofthechange. A muchmoredetailedanalysis isrequiredbut Griffithsisunwillingto provideit. Her statedaimisdescriptive. Yet surelysomeattemptat explanationcouldhavebeenmade?Were the lawsof the seventeenth centuryreallylessdiscriminatory againstwomenthan thoseof the eighteenth andnineteenth centuries? If true,couldonepossible explanation bethat womenin theeighteenth andnineteenth centuries werechallenging theirposition andthatthelegalprejudice against themwasarearguardaction onthepartofamale dominatedsociety? How influentialwasthe trend to role specialization? Alison Prenticehasargued'it wouldappearthat a majorconcernof nineteenthcentury ideologues in WesternSociety wasthe carvingoutof special spheres in the labour marketfor allsorts andclasses of people.Astheideaof class became moreandmore powerful,womentoobeganto be regardedasa class of society, suitedfor certain typesof workandnotfor others.'Partof thiswasthechange from a society which emphasized thecommunity toonewhichemphasized theindividual,achangewhich canbe tracedin the historyof the family.Certainlyunderstanding the familyisa centralconcern, for oncewomanbecomes isolated in thefamilythedynamic which Griffithsisatpainstostress, thechange fromdiscrimination toprejudice, occurs. At timesGriffithsalludes totheseconcerns butneitherdevelops themnorbringsthem together inacoherent synthesis. The resultisthat,despite themanyinteresting ideas presented in Penelope's Web, the readerisleft frustratedby the lackof sufficient documentation andanalysis. WENDY MITCHIN$ON MountSaintVincent University La Conversion parl'image: unaspect delamission des Jdsuites aupr•s des Indiens duCanada auXVIIe si•cle. FV•NC3OIS-M^RC g^GNON. Montreal,LesEditionsBellarmin,•975. PP. •4 •, illus. TheJesuit missionaries ofNewFrance strike usasforceful manipulators oftheword. 'Jesuitical' smacks of shrewdargumentand deviousdebate.We tend to seetheir successes withtheIndiansastriumphsof rationalpersuasion, wonwithdefttongues andrhetorical ingenuity. Certainlythereisanelement oftruthinourstereotype, but Franqois-Marc Gagnon reminds usthatthemissionaries appealed successfully tothe eyeaswellastotheear.In thehistoryof culturalcontact in New France,heargues, theuseofreligious images - intableaux, banners, prints,charts, games, andbooks mustbeaccorded animportantchapter.AsFatherLeJeuneacknowledged in •637, 'lessainctes figuressontlamoiti• del'instruction qu'onpeutdonnerauxSauvages.' One inspiration of theJesuits' pedagogical useof images wasMichelLe Nobletz ...