The Women of New France: More Than Just a Housewife

 

When Reflecting on Pre-Confederation Canada in New France, many often believe men were the only gender contributing to society. This may have been due to the fact that men were the first Europeans to settle on the land and to make a permanent home in New France. Or perhaps this was a result of men being viewed as the superior sex in the 17thcentury, as with many other centuries before and after. Settling in New France was an exciting time for the men who braved the open sea, but what is a life without a woman to share it with? The women of New France portrayed many roles and unsurprisingly these roles were not viewed as highly due to the fact they were not done by a man. Regardless of whether women’s roles were documented or briefly spoken about by most historians, women were instrumental to the growth of New France. Many important female religious figures came to New France and provided education and hospitals which helped improve the growing colony. Hundreds of women branded as the Filles Du Roi sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in order to meet their potential husbands in 1665. Once settled they became more than housewives and began to gain status and prestige by providing to the economy.

Many influential nuns in New France worked and prospered by providing education and running hospitals. Majority of these school and hospitals were established by a particular nun named Marie de l’Incarnation who was an influential, high-ranking figure who arrived in New France in 1639.[1]Maire de l’Incarnation was desperate to create a flourishing colony out of New France and wrote numerous reports to the King leading him to send an influx of the Filles du Roi to his new colony. Within these letters, she highlights the positives and negatives of early life in New France. She describes New France as being “bounteous”, and fertile soil caused vegetables to “grow in abundance”.  After expressing all that New France has to offer, she does give a truthful review on the hardships that comes with living in New France. She states that there are many poor people and prospering within your land can take a couple of years.[2]

Not only did Marie de l’Incarnation entice the residents of France to embark on the journey to New France, but furthermore founded one of the first Ursuline Monasteries in Quebec.[3]Ursulines were responsible for creating education and hospitals that contributed to the growing population of New France.[4]At first, the Ursulines were used to bring in Indigenous girls and convert them to the European customs, then after failed attempts, the Ursuline began to instruct French girls.[5]An education for young girls would have had positive effects throughout the colony. It would create a higher status which would in itself help them to gain control over their lives. Nuns even participated in running schools within the hospitals. These multi-purpose hospitals taught girls “their letters and catechism.”[6]  Being able to read in New France was a talent that could promote opportunities and women could also have taught their children the same skills.

Nuns in New France created hospitals to help those in need. Robert Magnuson author of “Two Myths in New France Education” states, “females founded, staffed and administered the hospitals of the colony, caring for the ill, the poor, the elderly and the infirm”.[7]Magnuson additionally mentions that not only were nuns working in these infirmaries but laywomen as well.[8]Hospitals were needed in any colony to reduce the risk of people dying and also contributed to the progression of science. The efforts made by the caretakers may have not been the best of choices, but in the 17th-century medicine was not as advanced. Still, nuns and women made efforts to help the ill which can be viewed as an extremely critical role within their society. The reports from Maire de l’Incarnation were an active agent in the growing population of New France. Likewise, the reports also played a large role in constructing an image for future immigrants to envision. Marie de l’Incarnation and her sisters of the Ursuline created a path that wasn’t necessarily towards only a husband and children.

As the interest in New France increased throughout Europe, it became essential to France’s expansion that the majority of the population were French. In 1665 the King of France began to promote settling in New France by promising a wife to any unmarried man. He accomplished this by sending over ships filled with hundreds of young women.[9]Marie de l’Incarnation reports back to the King of France stating, “The Hundred girls that the King sent this year have just arrived and already most of them are married. He will send two hundred more next year and still others in proportion in the years to come.”[10]Marie de l’Incarnation’s report confirms women were being sent to New France for the sole purpose of marriage and to help settle the colony. This showcases that women were in high demand. Jan Noel supports this by arguing the Filles Du Roi were a small proportion of the population compared to men.[11]Jan Noel intends to explain how these women were highly sought after considering they were some of the first women in New France. As a result of the position they were in women had numerous marriage choices. Becoming married helped them gain status and it put the women “in an excellent position to gain further advantages.”[12]Advantages such as status among women in the 1600s was just as important as status is today. For instance, a woman who marries a man of high status will have more privileges and influence compared to those who married in the lower class. Although it may seem sexist to send women to a continent primarily to be wed, most of the Filles Du Roi took advantage of their situation. There are numerous cases of women creating a name for themselves apart from their husbands by working outside of their homes in resourceful ways.

Contrary to what some may think, widows and women of New France played an instrumental role in the economy. These women not only did their “duty” populating New France as the King desired, but they strove to be more than just mothers and did so by providing to the economy.  As proof, a particular woman of New France by the name of Marie Louis Denys Laronde DelatrinitĂš thrived after her husband’s death in 1711. Before he died, she asked for a “separation of goods” as he was not managing their affairs efficiently. Following her husband’s death, Marie Louis fought for and won a claim of land that was considered to be a convenient place to intercept furs. She then hired a voyageur to collect furs from the Indigenous group the Michilimackinac and later went into business with a tanner, from which she made a sizeable profit.[13]Women who prospered after their husbands’ death and identified when affairs were not being managed efficiently shows how strong and determined they were. They seized opportunities, likely against the judgement of men and ran various successful trading posts and businesses, all while sometimes bearing up to 15 children.[14]Kathryn A Young, author of “‘… sauf les perils et fortunes de la mer’: Merchant Women in New France and the French Transatlantic Trade” provides many examples of working women. For instance, “Marie-Madelein Reoberge and Marie-Anne Barbel bought and sold real estate and dispatched imports from their warehouse in a local shipping trade. Others like Marie-Anne Busqut and Marie-Louise Denys dela Ronde worked in the metropolitan trade as shippers and suppliers.”[15]It is profound that these women created an abundant amount of wealth for themselves plus completing what would be considered “a man’s job” in the process. Perhaps husband’s encouraged their working wives to increase their family income, or as a result of boredom within the household. The women may have grown tired of cooking and cleaning and desired a greater purpose regarding their lives. Nevertheless, these women felt the need to work, and that is exactly what they did.

The women of New France proved time after time that they are worthy of being recorded in the history books. Whether it was leaving their former lives to help create a new colony, or working within it to help it thrive, women were there making it happen. They made necessities such as education and hospitals come to life to better the people of New France while being wives and mothers. These women of New France demonstrate that even in the 17thcentury they knew they could achieve more than what men gave them credit for. All of these women unquestionably contributed to the formation of New France and exemplify what it means to rise above the double standards and achieve your goals despite your gender.

 

Bibliography

 

Kathryn A. Young. “‘
 Sauf Les Perils et Fortunes de La Mer’: Merchant Women in New                       France and the French Transatlantic Trade, 1713–46,”(2016) pp. 3: 388. :

 

Magnuson, Roger. “Two Myths in New France Education.” McGill Journal of

Education / Revue des sciences de l’Ă©ducation de McGill, [S.l.], v. 20, n. 003, sep. 1985. ISSN 1916-0666. Available at: <http://mje.mcgill.ca/article/view/7636/5566>. Date accessed: 28 nov. 2018.

 

Marie de l’Iincarnation’s “Marie de l’Iincarnation Reports from New France, 1665” in

Granatstein, J. L., and Norman Hillmer. First Drafts: Eyewitness Accounts from Canadas past. Toronto: Thomas Allen Publishers, 2002. pp 19-20

 

Noel, Jan. “”Nagging Wife” Revisited: Women and the Fur Trade in New France.” French           Colonial History7 (2006): pp48

 

Noel, Jan. “New France: Les Femmes Favorisees.” Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice / Études Critiques Sur Le Genre, La Culture, et La Justice6, no. 2       (March 1981): pp 86

 

 

 

[1]Jan Noel. “”Nagging Wife” Revisited: Women and the Fur Trade in New France.” pp 87

[2]Marie de l’Incarnation, “Marie de l’Incarnation Reports from New France, 1665”

[3]Jan Noel. “New France: Les Femmes Favorisees.” pp 86

[4]Ibid pp87

[5]Ibid pp 87

[6]Ibid 230

[7]Roger Magnuson. “Two Myths in New France Education.” McGill Journal of

Education / Revue des sciences de l’Ă©ducation de McGill, [S.l.], v. 20, n. 003, sep. 1985. ISSN 1916-0666.

[8]Ibid229

[9]Marie de l’Incarnation, “Marie de l’Incarnation Reports from New France, 1665” in Granatstein, J. L., and Norman Hillmer. First Drafts: Eyewitness Accounts from Canadas past. Toronto: Thomas Allen Publishers, 2002. pp 19-20

[10]Ibidpp 19-20

[11]Jan Noel. “New France: Les Femmes Favorisees.” Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice / Études Critiques Sur Le Genre, La Culture, et La Justice6, no. 2 (March 1981): pp 86

[12]Ibid pp 86

[13]Jan Noel. “”Nagging Wife” Revisited: Women and the Fur Trade in New France.” French Colonial History 7 (2006): pp48.

 

[14]Ibid pp 47

[15]Kathryn A. Young. “‘
 Sauf Les Perils et Fortunes de La Mer’: Merchant Women in New France and the French Transatlantic Trade, 1713–46,”(2016) pp. 3: 388. :