The Woman's Page: Journalism and Early Rhetoric in Early Canada

Tami Oliphant is a Ph.D. candidate in Library and Information Studies at the University of Western Ontario.

The Woman’s Page is an engaging and important contribution to our understanding of female writers in Canada. Fiamengo’s fascinating portrayal and analysis of six prominent female writers and activists from between 1875 and 1915—Agnes Maule Machar, Sara Jeanette Duncan, E. Pauline Johnson, Kathleen Blake Coleman, Flora MacDonald Denison, and Nellie L. McClung—sheds light on the contributions and context of these extraordinary women who wrote books or published articles, columns, or editorial pieces for various newspapers and magazines both in Canada and the United States.

Fiamengo shows how these writers drew on different rhetorical positions that allowed them to build audiences and to participate in Canada’s social, political, and intellectual life. For Machar and McClung, for example, the rhetorical position of the Christian ideology that they subscribed to, and that was representative of their respective times, provided a platform from where they could disseminate their ideas and arguments for social justice. Both writers abhorred suffering and both drew on the rhetoric of maternal feminism—sacrifice and service as forays to intellectual and political debates.

The other four writers examined in this collection come from different traditions. Flora MacDonald Denison outright rejected Christianity as barbaric and used the women’s movement itself as a source of spirituality. Similarly, Duncan and Coleman were leery of any ideological alliances in their writing, whereas Pauline Johnson’s approach was completely different—she used stories and poetry as a rhetorical platform for political change.

The Woman’s Page is written in a rousing style where each of these remarkable women faces and stares down barriers and defies the odds. The tremendous respect Fiamengo accords her subjects is apparent. These six writers comprise a vital part of Canadian history and as such this book is highly recommended for all university libraries. The influence these women have had on Canadian life has reverberated through time and they continue to inspire.