A Marriage of Convenience: Business and Social Work in Toronto, 1918-1957

Henry G. MacLeod teaches sociology at both Trent University and the
University of Waterloo.

A Marriage of Convenience is a straightforward historical narrative
covering the struggle between business and social work for control over
the provision of social services in Toronto from 1918 to 1957. The book,
which appears to be based on the author’s doctoral thesis, is detailed
and factual. It is also very bland. For example, Charlotte Whitton, the
colorful and outspoken mayor of Ottawa, is starkly described as having
been “a guest speaker at an annual meeting of the Child Welfare
Council.”

Wills documents how men came to dominate community work, relegating
women to a supportive role. For example, after Margaret Gould, the
secretary of the Child Welfare Council, was labeled a Communist in the
1930s, the Council was disbanded and replaced by a new organization
dominated by men. Wills fails, however, to provide a theoretical
interpretation (feminist or otherwise) for this trend.

Many of the historical conflicts Wills describes remain very topical.
His book is well worth reading in view of the current debate over
minimum wages and social assistance rates.