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History Post-confederation (1867-)

Discounted Labour

Women Workers in Canada, 1870-1939

by (author) Ruth Frager & Carmela Patrias

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Dec 2005
Category
Post-Confederation (1867-), Women's Studies, Labor & Industrial Relations
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780802078186
    Publish Date
    Dec 2005
    List Price
    $40.95
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802008282
    Publish Date
    Feb 2006
    List Price
    $72.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442658271
    Publish Date
    Dec 2006
    List Price
    $28.95

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Description

The years between 1870 and 1939 were a crucial period in the growth of industrial capitalism in Canada, as well as a time when many women joined the paid workforce. Yet despite the increase in employment, women faced a difficult struggle in gaining fair remuneration for their work and in gaining access to better jobs. Discounted Labour analyses the historical roots of women's persistent inequality in the paid labour force. Ruth A. Frager and Carmela K. Patrias analyse how and why women became confined to low-wage jobs, why their work was deemed less valuable than men's work, why many women lacked training, job experience, and union membership, and under what circumstances women resisted their subordination.

Distinctive earning discrepancies and employment patterns have always characterized women's place in the workforce whether they have been in low-status, unskilled jobs, or in higher positions. For this reason, Frager and Patrias focus not only on women wage-earners but on women as salaried workers as well. They also analyze the divisions among women, examining how class and ethnic or racial differences have intersected with those of gender. Discounted Labour is an essential new work for anyone interested in the historical struggle for gender equality in Canada.

About the authors

Ruth A. Frager is an associate professor in the Department of History at McMaster University.

Ruth Frager's profile page

Carmela Patrias is a professor in the Department of History at Brock University. Her publications include: Patriots and Proletarians: Politicizing Hungarian Immigrants in Canada, Discounted Labour: Women Workers in Canada, 1870–1939, co-authored with Ruth Frager, and Jobs and Justice: Fighting Discrimination in Wartime Canada, 1939–1945.

Carmela Patrias' profile page