Studies in Gender and History
1 primary work
Book 8
In Enlisting Women for the Cause, Linda Kealey Recreates the Experiences of Canadian women on the left in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a crucial period when women became more prominent in the work force, in labour unions, and in politics where they fought for and ultimately won the vote.The book examines discourse on women's work and attempts to regulate it; labour activism, including formal membership in unions and parties as well as women's auxiliaries and organizations such as the Women's Labor League; and women's militancy during the First World War and the troubled post-war period. The author argues that women helped mount an opposition to the inequalities inherent in industrial capitalism, but they also had to fight against the supporting role they were forced to play in the very movements to which they belonged.Kealey explores what the left thought about women's participation in politics and left-wing organizations across the country and she also looks at the nature of that participation itself. The scope of her book puts it in the forefront of its field.