Chapter 2: Canada's Families - Historical & Contemporary Variations - PDF

Chapter 2 Canada’s Families: Historical and Contemporary Variations Classification: Protected A © 2022 Oxford University Pres...

Chapter 2 Canada’s Families: Historical and Contemporary Variations Classification: Protected A © 2022 Oxford University Press  Learning Objectives To review the major changes and continuities in the history of Canadian families over the past two centuries To discuss how the patriarchal family reinforces hierarchies of class, “race,” gender, and age To reflect on “the family” as a social construction deriving from the dominant social group’s anxieties and objectives at particular historical moments To understand that families have always varied in form and composition, despite the force of prevailing ideas about what properly constitutes “the family” Classification: Protected A © 2022 Oxford University Press  Introduction Most people throughout history have spent at least some part of their lives in a family or a family setting Different models of Canadian families had always existed in its history Families have always played a central role in social formation, political and economic systems, and culture Families have always been, and remain, important to our individual, social, and national identities Classification: Protected A © 2022 Oxford University Press  Families as Historical Actors Broad range of family experiences Variations by “race” and culture: - First Nations, Metis and Inuit families, francophone Catholic families in Quebec; and immigrant families Families are historical actors as opposed to passive recipient of changing ideas and practice Classification: Protected A © 2022 Oxford University Press  Families as Historical Actors Cont’d Family—bearer of positive and negative characteristics The family-- socially constructed and reconstructed Mid-nineteenth century, work and domestic life were increasingly separate (“cult of domesticity” and “separate spheres”) Changes in family structure brought by modernization Classification: Protected A © 2022 Oxford University Press  Families as Historical Actors Cont’d Chain migration in the early 20th Century saw the emergence of new Canadian families mostly from Europe Traditional family functions taken over by institutions such as the church and other charitable organizations, and later the state High infant and maternal mortality rates in the families had negative impacts Classification: Protected A © 2022 Oxford University Press  Families as Historical Actors Cont’d The impact of “Social Gospel” reforms Women using ‘maternal feminist’ arguments to pressure governments to address the problems of poor families Women and children classified as the non-working dependents of male providers Classification: Protected A © 2022 Oxford University Press  Families as Historical Actors Cont’d Women’s work undermined by the association of work with waged male labour outside the home. Racialized immigration policies excluded families from countries outside of Western Europe and the US (e.g. Chinese Immigration Act) Indigenous families suffered from government policies as well Classification: Protected A © 2022 Oxford University Press  Families as Historical Actors Cont’d The Indian Act and the subordination of women (patrilineage) and non- recognition of Métis Assimilation and residential schools’ impact on Indigenous families Despite its shortcomings, the male breadwinner model dominated public discourses and public policy on families for much of the twentieth century Classification: Protected A © 2022 Oxford University Press  The Shape(s) of Modern Families Demographic changes fundamentally affected the size, as well as the life course, of Canadian families These demographic trends were not directly caused by the transition to industrial capitalism but were intensified by it New ideas about children and childhood-- Canada’s Century and Century of the Child Classification: Protected A © 2022 Oxford University Press  The Shape(s) of Modern Families Cont’d Divorce was difficult to obtain by women Single-parent or blended family households existed mainly as a result of spouse’s death as opposed to divorce The “woman question” about the public roles and rights of women Classification: Protected A © 2022 Oxford University Press  The Shape(s) of Modern Families Cont’d The roles of Women’s Christian Temperance Union (1874), the National Council of Women of Canada (1893), and rural Women’s Institutes (1897) in defending women’s involvement in public life The role of the First World War in women’s involvement in the paid labour force Classification: Protected A © 2022 Oxford University Press  The Shape(s) of Modern Families Cont’d The establishment of the Canadian Council on Child and Family Welfare (later the National Welfare Council) in 1920 Pronatalism offered the solution to the perceived crisis in the family The 1921 Census revealed a proportionately greater number of married Canadians than at any previous time on record Classification: Protected A © 2022 Oxford University Press  The Shape(s) of Modern Families Cont’d The 14% decline in birth rate between 1921 and 1931 testified to the continuous spread of birth control despite its illegality Demographic changes– longer life expectancy, smaller family size, and increased length of marriage The Great Depression of the 1930s affected family welfare programs Family Allowance Act passed in 1944 Classification: Protected A © 2022 Oxford University Press  Families at Mid-century The period of “reconstruction” after the Second World War saw renewed attention to the family Rise in divorce rate after veterans returned The return of the idea of “normal” family in the 1950s The post-war prosperity saw increase in birth rate (the era of Baby Boom) Classification: Protected A © 2022 Oxford University Press  Families at Mid-century Cont’d During this period, a higher number of children than ever before, or since, grew up in the care of both their birth parents. Proportion of lone-parent families declined from about 14 per cent in 1931 to about 10 per cent in 1951, and then to a new low of 8.2 per cent in 1966 Classification: Protected A © 2022 Oxford University Press  Families at Mid-century Cont’d The political conservatism and social conformity of the 1950s gave way to a resurgence of radicalism in the New Left The sexual revolution and the rise of women’s participation in the labour force and dual income family Classification: Protected A © 2022 Oxford University Press  Families at the Millennium Decline in fertility rate, and the rise of the “childless by choice” union Increase in life expectance resulting in smaller portion of the life-course devoted to child care Percentage of marriage mothers who worked for wages increased significantly State-supported maternity and parental leave in the 1990s Classification: Protected A © 2022 Oxford University Press  Families at the Millennium Cont’d Legalization of same-sex marriage in 2005 Declining percentage of married couple families Increase in the percentage of common-law couples Classification: Protected A © 2022 Oxford University Press  Conclusion The history of Canadian families for the past 200 years reveals the importance of families to individuals and society The changing family forms over the years influenced by: - Industrialization and the rise of digital technology - Demographic changes - Change in the status of women - Changing relationship between private sphere of the family and public interest of government - Societal recognition of different family forms The history of Canadian families consists of the varied stories of varying families, functioning in many different ways toward their goal of being families in their own way Classification: Protected A © 2022 Oxford University Press