National Library News January/February 2000 Vol. 32, nos. 1-2

SAVOIR FAIRE: Women of Science in the Federal Department of Agriculture, 1900-1920

Courtesy of the National Archives of Canada.

October is Women’s History Month, and therefore it was appropriate that the topic of the National Library’s October 19, 1999, SAVOIR FAIRE seminar was "Women of Science in the Federal Department of Agriculture, 1900-1920". Amber Lloydlangston, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Ottawa, provided a lively overview and analysis of the work of women in the Department of Agriculture, highlighting the wide range of resources from the National Library of Canada’s collections she had used during the course of her thesis research.

In her presentation, Ms. Lloydlangston focussed on the main areas of her thesis research: how women in the Canadian civil service were perceived in the years 1900 to 1920; the Department of Agriculture and the science culture of the early 20th century; the formation of a woman’s occupation within the Department (seed analysis); and women science professionals.

Ms. Lloydlangston brought to life the perceptions about women in the civil service by reviewing telling extracts from royal commissions of the time appointed to investigate the civil service. In the 1892 Report of the Royal Commissioners Appointed to Enquire into Certain Matters Relating to the Civil Service of Canada, women working in the Department of Agriculture were described as efficient and compared favourably to men in clerical positions. However, by 1907, when another royal commission on the civil service reported, women were no longer welcomed so unequivocally. It was felt that women would swamp the lower levels of the civil service, preventing young men from finding the low-grade positions from which they could then be promoted to the higher ranks. In 1919, the practice of hiring only unmarried women was made policy by an order-in-council. In 1921, another order-in-council was approved which stated that upon marriage a woman had to retire from the civil service. Ms. Lloydlangston noted that the Sessional Papers of the House of Commons housed in the Reading Room of the National Library of Canada were an invaluable resource for this phase of her research.

At the beginning of the century, when the Department of Agriculture began to focus on research to improve Canadian agricultural practices and crop and food production, women found particular niches within the Department. As the Department became concerned with the dissemination and popularization of agricultural information, women were hired as writers, experimenters, demonstrators, and lecturers on such topics as the proper procedures in the canning of fruits and vegetables, cheese making and fruit farming. Published material of this era was disseminated not only to farmers but also to schools, youth groups, Women’s Institutes, and other organizations.

The one field in particular within the Department of Agriculture where women found employment was in the area of seed analysis. In 1902, the Department of Agriculture opened the Ottawa Seed Testing Laboratory, the first of its kind in Canada. The purpose of seed analysis was to improve the quality of farm production, to promote Canada’s seed export industry, and to improve the quality of rural life.

Ms. Lloydlangston noted that "prevailing gender norms, combined with the practicalities of pay scales and working conditions offered by the Department, dictated that women would be suitable, even exemplary seed analysts". Women were willing to work for less money at the tedious tasks that men were unwilling to perform. By using city directories held at the National Library of Canada, Ms. Lloydlangston has been able to determine that the young women employed in the Seed Testing Laboratory were generally upwardly mobile daughters of upper-lower or lower-middle class families. While a few of these women remained in the Department for some time, the majority of them resigned from their jobs to be married. This pattern followed the norm of the time; women worked during the period between finishing school and getting married.

Ms. Lloydlangston concluded her seminar by discussing some of the women who did not follow the norm and who did enter the professional career ranks within the Department. She went on to describe the difficulties encountered by a number of women scientists such as Assistant Botanist Faith Fyles, who was the first professional scientist appointed to the Department. During her career, Fyles, who supported her aging parents, had to endure disputes about her salary and the denial of a bonus which was offered to employees with dependants.

Through the work of researchers such as Amber Lloydlangston, it becomes evident how the in-depth collections of the National Library can help to provide a more complete picture of Canada’s history.