A Brief History of Women in Quebec

A Brief History of Women in Quebec examines the historical experience of women of different social classes and origins (geographic, ethnic, and racial) from the period of contact between Europeans and Aboriginals to the twenty-first century to give a nuanced and complex account of the main transformations in their lives.

Themes explored include demography, such as marriage, fecundity, and immigration; women’s work outside and inside the home, including motherhood; education, from elementary school to post-secondary and access to the professions; the impact of religion and government policies; and social and political activism, including feminism and struggles to attain equality with men. Early chapters deal with New France and the first part of the nineteenth century, and the remaining are devoted to the period since 1880, an era in which women’s lives changed rapidly and dramatically.

The book concludes that transformation in the means of production, women’s social and political activism (including feminism), and Quebec nationalism are three main keys to understanding the history of Quebec women. Together, the three show that women’s history, far from being an adjunct to “general history,” is essential to a full understanding of the past. Originally published in French with the title Brève histoire des femmes au Québec.

Chapter 1

Denyse Baillargeon 

The first chapter covers the French Regime and the beginnings of the British Regime, a period during which the arrival of the French settlers in the Saint-Lawrence valley transforms the way of life and organization of the aboriginal societies and particularly the men/women relationship.

Chapter 2

Denyse Baillargeon

Devoted to the period 1780-1840, the second chapter opens with the arrival of the first British women immigrant that changes the composition of the white feminine population of the colony and allows the new colonizers to take roots. It examines the consolidation of the British colonial rule and the transformation of women’s juridical and political and status, a consequence of the rise of the new liberal order. 

Chapter 3

Denyse Baillargeon 

The years 1840-1880, studied in chapter 3, are characterized by the transition from a preindustrial to an industrial economy which entails profound transformation in class and gender relations; this is also the period when the Catholic Church affirms its power and begins to exert its influence over French-Canadian population, especially women. 

Chapter 4 

Denyse Baillargeon 

Examines the years 1880-1920, a period that corresponds to the accentuation of the process of industrialization and urbanisation, and to a larger inclusion of women (mainly single) into the labour market. This period also witness the rise of the feminist movement which, along with nationalism, represents one of the most visible social and political movements, their relationship being difficult, to say the least.

Chapter 5

Denyse Baillargeon 

The interwar period, studied in chapter 5, witness the apparition of new feminine models associated with «modernity», like the flapper, and is characterized by a diminution of the birth rate, especially among the French-Canadians, by a larger visibility of women in the public space, and by the adoption of the first social policies aiming at them.

Chapter 6 

Denyse Baillargeon 

Covers the 25 next years, from 1940, the year women finally won the vote in Quebec, to 1966, that witness the creation of new feminists organizations, and looks at public debates and women’s social and political activism that paved the way to the resurgence of feminism. 

Chapter 7

Denyse Baillargeon 

Chapter 7 discusses the feminist revolution that begins in the mid-sixties, and its relation with nationalism and the national question represent the main characteristic of the next period that ends in 1989, the year where both the Daigle-Tremblay affair and the École Polytechnique’s massacre took place.

Chapter 8

Denyse Baillargeon 

Finally, the last chapter considers the last twenty years, while neoliberal politics, the diversification of immigration, and the debates over the national question combined to profoundly transform Quebec society and forced feminism to redefine itself in broadening its  struggles and objectives.