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Sheila Hanlon
Advisor: Dr. Catharine Wilson
"Fair Soldiers Of The Soil": Expressions Of Gender Ideology Within The Women’s Division Of The Ontario Farm Service Force - MA (2001) Thesis

 

   
  
   
During World War II, women were mobilized into the agricultural workforce through a unique war emergency program called the Ontario Farm Service Force. This thesis is an investigation of the extent to which gender ideology was employed within this organization in order to integrate young urban women into agriculture without breaking gender barriers. This concept is traced as it was exhibited as part of the identification of women as a reserve of potential agrarian labourers, an adherence to gender ideals as a template for the division of labour and management of workers, and the propaganda utilized to recruit and represent the Farmerettes. Much of the overall success of Ontario Farm Service Force's women's divisions can be attributed to the organization's careful adherence to existing gender constructs. The Ontario Farm Service Force provided a unique opportunity for cosmopolitan women to participate in the war effort through agrarian labour, and presents an interesting index of World War II era gender ideals that is of intrigue to the historian.

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Rural History, Farming, Farm, Food, Agriculture, Rural Life, Countryside, Canada, History, Harvesting, Settlement, Rural, Culture, Veterinary, Agricultural science, Farm labourer, Farmer, Children, Gender, Rural Industries, Victorian, Edwardian, Twentieth century, Nineteenth century, Eighteenth century  

This research was undertaken, in part, thanks to funding
from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Canada Research Chairs Program.
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