Colonial Women

Christine Linge MacDonald, a past director of the Toronto & District
Parent Co-operative Preschool Corporation and a freelance writer, is an
elementary-school teacher in Whitby.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines “colonial” as relating to any
nation’s period of history when it was under the rule of a mother
country. The first page of Colonial Women indicates that Walker’s
focus is the original 13 colonies of the United States. Since almost all
the photographs and period illustrations are American, one should take
the frequent references to “North America” with a grain of salt;
only someone with a sound historical background could extrapolate
Canadian history from these sources. That said, the reader is free to
savour Walker’s rich re-creation of this period in women’s history.

Like the other volumes in The Colonial People series, Colonial Women is
generously illustrated with a variety of photographs (taken in rebuilt
pioneer villages), period art and paintings, and colourful
illustrations. Most have explanatory labels, captions, and other
annotations. Two or three paragraphs of brisk prose per page, and
attractively boxed subsections, make the text accessible to even a
reluctant reader.

Colonial Women looks at the lives of rural and city women, rich and
poor. Throughout the book, the subtext of women’s social status and
religious conventions is referenced (Walker is careful to frame the
historical facts in the context of 17th-century society). The chapters
“Educating Girls,” “Courtship,” “Wedding Bells,” “Jobs for
Women,” and “Family Life” clarify this picture. Fortunately, the
closing chapter, “Notable Colonial Women,” shows that some strong
individuals broke out of the mould and made their mark on history.
Recommended.