Femmes, marchés et production textile au Nouveau-Brunswick au cours du XIXe siècle

Abstract

Abstract. Women, markets and domestic cloth production in New Brunswick in XIXth century. Until recently, the perpetuation of domestic cloth production in Eastern Canada in the XIXth century has been blamed on poverty. Farm households lacked the resources to acquire factory made fabric from the stores. They were obliged to try to be self sufficient in cloth. In New Brunwick however, other factors seem to have facilitated and even encouraged domestic textile production. The situation corroborates the hypothesis recently put forward by Canadien historians. Domestic cloth production was facilitated by the development of a local infrastructure (carding mills) and the availability of factory made cotton warp. It was meant for barter and market exchanges as well as for self consumption. Women were the ones who wove, and must have found the activity worth their while as domestic cloth fetched high prices and generated comfortable profits. Female weavers consequently could expect to earn almost as much as male wage earners.