Roughing It in the Suburbs: Reading «Chatelaine» Magazine in the Fifties and Sixties

Margaret Conrad is a professor of history at Acadia University. She is
the author of Intimate Relations: Family and Community in Planter Nova
Scotia, 1759–1800, and Making Adjustments: Change and Continuity in
Planter Nova Scotia, 1759–1800 and the co

The 1950s and 1960s marked the high point of Canada’s premier
women’s magazine founded in 1928. Under the editorship of Doris
Anderson for most of these years, Chatelaine attracted nearly two
million readers and, according to Korinek, laid the foundation for
second-wave Canadian feminism by including hard-hitting editorials and
articles among the more conventional fare targeting female consumers. At
a time when most North American magazines were confronted with declining
sales and advertising revenue, Chatelaine, because of its eclectic mix,
went from strength to strength, becoming Maclean Hunter’s most
successful publication.

Korinek argues that much of Chatelaine’s success rested on
Anderson’s ability to develop a “community of readers” that
crossed lines of class, culture, and the rural/urban divide. As a
result, the magazine sparked lively debates on a number of issues,
including birth control, abortion, domestic violence, and the status of
housewives. While there is no doubt that Chatelaine’s critique of
suburban housewifery appeared well in advance of Betty Friedan’s 1963
blockbuster The Feminine Mystique, it was not a voice in the wilderness.
Research shows that the discussion of gender roles in both the United
States and Canada was never as muted in the 1950s as Friedan implied.
Evidence from women’s professional organizations, documentary films,
and television scripts of the period indicate that Anderson’s
journalistic sense, unlike that of her largely male U.S. counterparts,
was in tune with that of her more progressive readers.

Drawing upon theoretical insights from cultural studies and gender
analysis, Korinek offers a meticulously researched and carefully
organized analysis, not an easy romp through the world of the suburban
housewife. Scholars, however, will be impressed by the clear discussion
of methodology and theory in the opening chapter and will also welcome
Korinek’s decision not only to explore the history of Chatelaine and
to analyze its contents but also to track reader response and draw
comparisons with women’s magazines in the United States. Rich in
insights, this monograph makes a major contribution to Canadian cultural
studies and women’s history.