The role and place of women in the French-speaking communities prior to 1920 was well-defined. Their education stressed the domestic arts, and, where possible, it was given in an all-girls school or convent. These young girls, in this 1912 scene, attended one of the many convents scattered across the West which were operated by religious orders, in this case, the Sisters of the Holy Names. The woman at the spinning wheel is occupied with one of the numerous tasks which fell upon women in this pioneering era. Women's labour, so essential in rural areas, assured that their economic role was not secondary.
Courtesy: La SociÄtÄ historique de Saint-Boniface.
