This page is an important one in the eportfolio because, these are all the assignments that taught me how we learn to “Do” history. Like the document analysis for example, this taught me how to really probe at a specific document and, be able to interpret it. 

Document Analysis

The topic that I picked for the research paper is women’s roles in pre-confederation Canada. Therefore, I have chosen a picture of a family out on the farm working as a primary document. The picture is found in an article written by Sydell Waxman in 2017 but, the picture looks like it dates back to the time period of 1867 which was pre-confederation era. The picture of the family working in the farm shows the father, two little children, and a mother who is pregnant.  The fact the mother of the family is pregnant and still out helping the others work shows, that women had a lot of roles to fulfil back in this time period. Not only caring for the family, household, helping with the heavy work that had to be tend to and, even taking the different looks from men about women taking on men’s roles.

 

In this photo the first thing that caught my eye was the fact that the mother of the family was out in the field working while pregnant with a child.  This gives the impression that during this time period no matter what the condition was of the women, pregnant and all she still had to tend to duties like harvesting the crops. There was no exception for women when it came to the heavy duties around the house. It almost seemed like being pregnant was no excuse for women because it was just something that they were meant to do. It was their role to be pregnant and have the kids of the family, so the men looked and it being no excuse. It almost seems like the photographer who took this photo was wanting to capture the importance of women in this era and, how they participated in just as many important roles as would men.  Not only was it just the roles women were so called “born” to do but, this picture indicates that they were many more important roles that women took on.

 

In this picture of the mother working with her family gives an indication that the women of the house were not just there to do there “women” duties. This mother in the picture probably took care of all the house work like, cleaning, cooking, and tending to the children. This woman even probably took her of her husband’s needs. And of course, getting pregnant so the family could grow. However, the main purpose of this document was to give off the impression that women in pre- confederation Canada had many more roles. Just by this photo and showing the pregnant mother out on the farm harvesting crops indicated women, probably tended to the farm work like, harvesting crops and re planting of them. They might have even attended the hunting and gathering for food or helped with the re building of different structures. The essence of this photo definitely captured the idea that yes, women had roles that were generally directed at them, but the main point is that women took part in many different roles that might have been looked at as a man’s role. It was also very out of the ordinary for women to be taking on tasks that were not so much the regular job and, this would have definitely created a huge mark for women in history. Therefore, the attitudes towards women taking on “man’s work” was probably very back and forth, some men supported it, and some did not.

 

The photo that displays the family all working together on the farm makes it look like the father really appreciated the help that mother would provide. Most loving families would have looked at the women of the house helping out with other tasks and roles as a positive aspect. As in the photo the husband looks almost proud to say that his wife can do more than just cook, clean, and sew. Any man should take pride in a wife who is talented at many things. Unfortunately, there was more than likely men who looked at women stepping out of the norm and taking on more as something offensive. They would think that women have certain kinds of roles and those were the roles to stick with. But as the photo shows a happier looking husband, the support from families went a longer way than the negative would.

 

Women’s roles were very important and expanding as the era went on. As in this photograph women were expanding their knowledge and taking on many other roles that were not the typical women role. This picture shows a great background on women’s roles and how she was needed for even more besides just the regular tasks like, cooking, cleaning and, taking care of the family. Having children was a main role for the but it never stopped them from taking anything else on. Women were becoming just as independent as a man would be and, it was creating a great step forward in history for women.

Unfortunately, the picture that goes along with this document would not post on this page 🙁

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