Drawing on historical records of women’s varying experiences as litigants, accused criminals, or witnesses, this book offers critical insight into women’s legal status in nineteenth-century Canada. In an effort to recover the social and political conditions under which women lobbied, rebelled, and in some cases influenced change, Petticoats and Prejudice weaves together forgotten stories of achievement and defeat in the Canadian legal system.Expanding the concept of “heroism” beyond its traditional limitations, this text gives life to some of Canada’s lost heroines. Euphemia Rabbitt, who resisted an attempted rape, and Clara Brett Martin, who valiantly secured entry into the all-male legal profession, were admired by their contemporaries for their successful pursuits of justice. But Ellen Rogers, a prostitute who believed all women should be legally protected against sexual assault, and Nellie Armstrong, a battered wife and mother who sought child custody, were ostracized for their ideas and demands. Well aware of the limitations placed upon women advocating for reform in a patriarchal legal system, Constance Backhouse recreates vivid and textured snapshots of these and other women’s courageous struggles against gender discrimination and oppression.Employing social history to illuminate the reproductive, sexual, racial, and occupational inequalities that continue to shape women’s encounters with the law, Petticoats and Prejudice is an essential entry point into the gendered treatment of feminized bodies in Canadian legal institutions.
Backhouse
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Weitere Infos & Material
- Foreword, Jim Phillips and R. Roy McMurtry
- Foreword to the First Edition, R. Roy McMurtry and Peter N. Oliver
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- PART I: THE REGULATION OF MARRIAGE, COURTSHIP, AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE
- Chapter 1: The Ceremony of Marriage
- Chapter 2: Seduction
- Chapter 3: Rape
- PART II: FERTILITY
- Chapter 4: Infanticide
- Chapter 5: Abortion
- PART III: THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY FAMILY
- Chapter 6: Divorce and Separation
- Chapter 7: Child Custody
- PART IV: WOMEN'S WORK IN THE PAID LABOUR FORCE
- Chapter 8: Prostitution
- Chapter 9: Protective Labour Legislation
- Chapter 10: Lawyering: Clara Brett Martin, Canada's First Woman Lawyer
- Conclusion
- Selected Bibliography
- Index
- Copyright Acknowledgements
- Selected Publications by The Osgoode Society
- Selected Publications by Women's Press
- About the Author
Constance Backhouse is University Research Chair and Distinguished University Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa and co-founder of the Feminist History Society.
