After my post yesterday, Getting the female vote, I started thinking about how women and their causes have changed over the years. The issues that concern some women today, such as daycare, abortion, and careers, were not even on our Grandmother’s radar.
Think about your own Grandmother’s or Great Grandmother’s (for you youngster’s).
Both my Grandmother’s came from Europe, by boat, and travelled in covered wagons to Alberta. It takes us 5 solid days of travelling from Edmonton to get to PEI, in our modern vehicle. Now, think about making that same journey in a covered wagon. All your worldly possessions in a little tiny wagon, and no you can’t take your computers, Xboxes, fridge, stove and other “necessities” with you, some flour, sugar and coffee will have to do, and livestock. Day after day, week after week, month after month, they travelled. What drove them?
Hope for a better life.
Was my Grandmother thinking about having someone else look after her kids? Daycare? HA, not likely. Even my Mother talks about the harvest crews who would come in the fall, to help get the wheat in before the snow. My Mom and Grandma spent day after day cooking, from before sunup to after sundown. They had no time to protest, anything. Try having 10 kids, see how much time you have on your hands to make trouble. Abortion, not in those days, they had more kids because not all of them would make it to adulthood.
Hope for a better life, meant freedom, your own land, and family. You worked hard just to survive. Would you live in a mud hut in the middle of a prairie winter?
With the industrial age, came freedom for men and women. New problems were created, so where is the pioneer spirit now? Feminists want equality, abortions and careers, not families, and definitely not men. What would my Grandmother’s think about feminists? If I could ask them, I bet they would both laugh, and explain that women had more true equality back in their day. I also bet, if they could vote, they would be Conservatives.
22 comments:
My great grand parents moved into Alberta from Oklahoma in 1904 settling on a homestead 40 miles from the railhead. Their first winter had the parents and 5 kids living in a tent and the temperature resting at -45 F.
They never supported the UFA, Progressives, CCF or the NDP.
I wonder -- were your grandmothers were able to use apostrophes correctly? Or is illiteracy another important aspect of this great heritage?
"I also bet, if they could vote, they would be Conservatives."
And I bet the irony of that statement went whooosh! right over your head.
And I bet the irony of that statement went whooosh! right over your head.
Undoubtedly. Heh.
I understand your point, but at the same time your reference to 'Conservative' reminds me that the 'Conservatives' under Mulroney were no different than Libs...they were bowing to the anti-family agenda.
I think you meant CPC.
Always the big deal re: women not voting.
They were just as influential in society, without measuring their worth on 'the vote'. Thankfully it was the anti-abortion activists who rallied to get the vote for women.
Thankfully it was the anti-abortion activists who rallied to get the vote for women.
Really? The anti-abortion activists? In 1917? When abortion and even contraception were illegal in Canada? Wow, they really had it together -- they were ready for the big fight 50 years before it even became an issue. You have to admire that kind of dedication. In a way.
I mean, if we want to get all historical and factual here, we could point out that it was WWI (in which women showed they were perfectly capable of working in factories) and WWII (in which women fully entered the work force) that led to the advances of the feminist movement. But I gather things like facts and history that actually happened aren't exactly important to you guys.
Regarding history - did your ancestors come up from the states or land in the East at Montreal or Halifax? If they came through Canada they certainly didn't travel all the way by covered wagon - the first covered wagon to travel from Ontario to the West did so in 1967 as part of the Centennial celebrations. (And it broke down outside Winnipeg.) They may have travelled from the railhead to their homestead by covered wagon, but they certainly didn't come from the East like that. Our Western immigration was done by train, unlike the States.
I'm not putting down in any way the hardships your ancestors must have faced once they arrived in the West - they were tough times and they had to be tough people to put up with them. But some family legends are just that - legends.
Hunter, you do indeed describe how tough life was without todays technologies of convience nor modern medicine. Yesterday, I read about how some Scotsmen in the late 1800s worked as farm labourers during the week and how they took turns with weekend duties, so most would be able to walk home to see their families on the weekend. It was a part of my family history that had the men working for 6 months before getting paid as per their contract. At the end of the contract, the men would gather to proclaim their readiness to work another 6 months.
If the worker left before his term was completed, the farmer was not required to pay him. If he had a legitimate reason for leaving, such as illness, most would be paid for the time they worked, but if his employer decided that he was not performing his duties, he could release him with no salary at all. And there were no 'child labor laws' in those days. Children as young as 10 or 11 would often work on neighboring farms to help in the support of their families.
Women getting the vote (a movement that started around the 1820s), child labour laws, and other labour laws have made life more fair for us all, but discussion about laws is off topic. You are correct that life was hard back then. I roll my eyes every time someone complains about breaking a nail. You are correct that most don't realize how good life has become here in the west. It would behoove us to realize that many developing countries still have people that live as you describe in your post or worse.
You really should disallow men who use words like harlots, cunts, sluts, etc from commenting on your blog. Even if their isolated comment on your blog is devoid of that they have a pattern of hostility towards women and shouldn't be given a forum.
If they don't want men, why do they want abortions?
I don't see any nasty comments about women on my site misshailey, must be on the site that linked to me! Got to get to work, so will check it out tonight.
I do not allow swearing on this site, as it is family friendly.
since i'm sure JJ's comments went whoosh... your hard-working grannies could vote before 1916...in quebec, before 1940.
further, the loss of cheap oil and low skill factory jobs have contributed far more to the 2 income families of today than feminism.
whoosh. right over your head.
I believe misshailey refers to Canadian Cynic -- though neither he nor any of his co-bloggers have posted here.
Perhaps misshailey is attacking ad hominem because she is unable to respond to the comments made here so far in any meaningful way.
Feminists want abortions? And definitely not men. So they're pregnant through some sort of artificial insemination, and they went to all that trouble so that they could all ask for abortions.
Those wacky feminists.
Have you considered submitting this piece to The Onion?
Wow, my first two links are to lefty sites, funny....I must be bugging them.
Hey lefties, settle down, it's an opinion piece. If you had any of your own opinions, you might get it.
You should be admiring the courage of women who helped settle the west. Where is that courage now?
I'm not sure you're bugging leftists (whoever they might be) so much as amusing them.
Hunter, come back and read your post in 2 months. If you don't find it sort of funny, try again in 3 years. And then, if necessary, a couple years later still. It may be best to do this before school so you're not all tired out.
The big deal being made re: when Canadian women got the vote. In the world view it was pretty soon after the men. What's the problem?
Relative to lives of women in the ME, we are doing well, unless we consider this:
Was it women voters who brought in politicians who removed any protection for unborn babies?
anon 1:27 - "Relative to lives of women in the ME, we are doing well, unless we consider this:
Was it women voters who brought in politicians who removed any protection for unborn babies?"
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you seem to be suggesting that because 52% of the population helped elect politicians whose policies you disagree with, it might be a better idea if they didn't have the vote.
Am I close?
As for your comment at 6:02, "Thankfully it was the anti-abortion activists who rallied to get the vote for women" -- Huh? Are you kidding? Are you sober?
Where do I start?
"I also bet. if they could vote."
It's pretty hard for my grandmothers to vote, as they are dead, and were way before abortion, and daycare became an issue.
As to illiteracy, you try having 10 kids and have 9 of them graduate from university, that was unheard of in those days.
Mention the word "feminist" in a blog, and wow do the lefties get their knickers tied in a knot.
Too funny!
I'm going to do my next blog, on how to make homemade pickles, and perogies, while caring for a family and maintaining a career. That should get some heads to explode!
M I wasn't referring to Canadian Cynic - he has not posted here.
Hailey just likes typing nasty words. She types them more often than the people she's referring to. And she types them aaaallll over the place.
All feminists don't just want abortions and careers! To lump a progressive EQUALITY based movement into one category is a serious mistake. I am saddened to think that people exist who believe that only women who are angry can be feminists. Any individual seeking equal rights regardless of gender is actually a feminist! You are perpetuating the stereotype that all conservatives are angry, impotent, and ignorant. Great work! You have simultaneously hurt both your cause and the cause of your opponents.
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