ELORA – When picturing rural women around the turn of the 20th century, are you imagining frumpy, boring and overworked people who never had any fun?
A University of Guelph adjunct professor is looking to combat this notion with her new book examining the leisure activities of small town Ontario women more than 100 years ago.
Rebecca Beausaert, U of G adjunct professor in the history department, will be releasing Pursuing Play: Women’s Leisure in Small-Town Ontario, 1870-1914 which tells the story through research of what women did for fun and how it developed communities through the lens of three small towns including Tillsonburg, Dresden and Elora.
“The book is about the culture of these towns during that time but specifically about women and their history in these towns and the leisure activities that they increasingly are pursuing during that time,” she said in a phone interview.
At the beginning of the time period examined, Beausaert explained there were few options for these women and what was available mostly related to the church or charity work.
“Then as time goes on, we see this shift, more women out in public, more women pursuing activities that were once unavailable to them, more times when men and women are socializing together and more times when women are pursuing activities that were typically men’s activities,” Beausaert said.
Her research showed women from Elora and the surrounding areas enjoyed going to or performing in the theatre at the drill shed or armoury hall and appreciated the outdoors as Elora became a tourist hotspot in the late 1800s.
“We see more women out playing in the rivers, in the gorge, on the riverbanks,” she said.
Infrastructure improvements such as Elora getting a rail line meant women were also able to go out on day trips to places like Niagara Falls, cottage country, Forks of the Credit and all over southern Ontario.
“They were not confined to their towns, they really enjoyed getting out and doing things,” she said.
Beausaert said the idea of this book is to counter the idea rural areas and small towns as being boring and backwards that were no fun, especially for women.
“Yes, women faced barriers to certain activities and things that they could do but it’s more complicated than that,” she said.
“They had a lot of work to do, a lot of expectations to fulfill but they still found time for fun and that was really important to them for physical well being, emotional well being, creating networks of friends, maintaining relationships with families and they played a really active role in creating those activities for themselves.”
Beausaert felt it’s important to study small town history from the perspective of women to understand their major contributions to community building.
“Women were integral to the development of these towns,” she said.
Pursuing Play: Women’s Leisure in Small-Town Ontario, 1870-1914 releases on Sept. 6.
