Passing the time: the lives of women in a northern industrial town

Parsons, Linda Ann (1986) Passing the time: the lives of women in a northern industrial town. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[English] PDF (Migrated (PDF/A Conversion) from original format: (application/pdf)) - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Download (56MB) [English] PDF - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. (Original Version)

Abstract

Newfoundlanders are generally familiar with both the idea of working in the north and with towns built by resource-extracting companies to house workers and their families. Not as well known is what the experience of migration to the north and life in such a single-industry town is like, particularly for women. This thesis examines that experience, presenting data collected during a two month period of interviews with a sample of female residents from Labrador City. -- Relying heavily on a phenomenological tradition of ethnography, the author attempted to allow her respondents to define the aspects of their lives which were of salient importance to their own sense of well-being. This data was then organized and interpreted to bring out the features of migration and subsequent residence in Labrador City which are particularly crucial for women's happiness and to emphasize the strategies which they use to cope with their problems. -- The thesis devotes attention, in particular, to early efforts to recruit women to Labrador City, to female migration experience and its motivation, and to women's problems related to the demographic, economic and even climatic features of life in a northern, single-industry town. - Women have quite different experiences in northern industrial towns than do men. This is the focus of the following text, which examines the attractions and difficulties women have found in living in Labrador City and the solutions they've devised for coping.

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