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After the turn of the century, Finnish domestics
were enticed to come to Canada. The federal government bent immigration
regulations, created special categories and made easier travel arrangements
for women who promised to work as domestic servants.1
In
fact, it was the only category, in addition to farm worker, in which
a single woman from Finland during the twenties was allowed to enter
the country.2
Like
the British, they too were welcome. Finnish women entered the industry
during its "transitional period," when the proportional importance
of domestic service as a major occupation for women was declining.
In
1921 domestics represented only 18 per cent of all employed women
in Canada.. New opportunities were enticing Canadian women away
from domestic service and the resulting gap was partially tilled
by newly arrived immigrants.3
The
largest proportion of foreign domestic workers still came from the
British Isles - 75 per cent before World War One and 60 per cent
during the 1920s.4
Among
the other ethnic groups, the Scandinavians and Finns showed an exceptionally
high propensity for domestic work. While the British women. who
were able to speak English, also had other opportunities for employment,
the Finnish women were almost exclusively concentrated in the service
industry.
In
Finnish jargon "going to work in America" became synonymous with
"going to be a domestic servant in America."5
During
the twenties, the Finnish domestic servants made up 7-8 per cent
of all female immigrants classified as "female domestics." In the
fiscal year ending March 31, 1929, for example, 1,288 Finnish women
arrived in Canada under this category out of a total of 1,618 adult
female immigrants from Finland.6
This
does not necessarily mean that all women actually settled into their
declared occupations in Canada. In fact, the Finnish Immigrant Home
Records indicate that there was considerable diversity of skills
among these "excellent domestic servants."
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Letters
of recommendation from Finland often included revealing additions
such as "she is also an experienced seamstress," or "this woman
is a skilful masseuse."7
The
domestic service category was simply the most convenient for immigration
purposes. Nevertheless, the vast majority of working women in Finnish
communities were maids. Calculations based on the two largest urban
centres indicate that of all the Finnish immigrant women employed
outside the home during the twenties at least 66 per cent were maids
in Toronto and Montreal.8
Except
for a handful of women who worked in restaurants, "all Finnish women
in Winnipeg were maids."9
This
single, overpowering concentration of Finnish women in domestic
work had a great impact on the community which had to adapt to the
life patterns of the maids.
Just
as mining, lumbering and construction work coloured the life of
the Finnish men, influenced their economic status, settlement location
and political thinking, domestic work shaped the world-views of
the Finnish women.
The
nature of domestic service was also changing from the predominance
of live-in maids around the turn of the century to "day workers"
by the depression. For example, the percentage of laundresses in
the service occupations doubled between 1901-11.10
"
It
was becoming increasingly difficult to find women willing to live
in and, consequently, more of this work was left to the newly arrived
immigrants - the greenhorns - whose occupational choices were limited.
The Finnish women knew upon arrival that there would be no problem
in finding a job.
"I
could have worked thirty hours a day, eight days a week," commented
one tired woman;11
and
a man shamefully recollected: There was no work for me, nothing,
but my wife was always able to get work as a live-in cook.
What
to do? I had to take women's work. Oh, I didn't like it. I was to
look after the liquor, but in the morning I had to do some dusting
too. I hated women's work and the pay was not good either, but we
had a place to live and food to eat. As soon as I could get man's
work, I left.12
The
consequent role reversal, which heightened during periods of economic
slow-down, was a bitter pill for many men to swallow. "My mother
worked," remembered a dynamic leader of the Finnish community, "she
could always find work in the houses, and my father stayed home
with the children." Then she laughed, "He never liked it, but he
did a good job!"13
By
1928 when the Great Depression had hit the lumbering industry -
one of the biggest employers of Finnish men - the frustrated "house-husband"
syndrome spread beyond the urban centres. Letters to Finland explained
how "women are the only ones who find work and men stay home to
look after the children."14
Women
gained in status as "they were the only ones with money to spend."15
Even
during the depression in 1937 when all doors to immigration were
shut, the government launched a special scheme to bring in "Scandinavian
and Finnish Domestics." Most of the women who came under this plan
were Finnish and in their late twenties and early thirties.16
Thus,
the Finnish women who came to Canada from 1900-30 when the supply
of domestics was dwindling and the demand for live-in maids still
strong were in a good economic position. They came mainly as single,
mature women who were used to hard work, and many had been domestics
prior to emigrating.
This
combination, the availability of work and the ability to do it,
was the main reason why Finnish women, both in the United States
and Canada, were found in such large numbers in domestic service.
In addition, there were other positive features about domestic work
which attracted the newcomers. The most pressing concerns of newly
arrived immigrants included where to live and where to work.
As
a live-in maid both worries were taken care of at once. While the
Finnish men spent much of their first years in Canada in rooming
houses or bunk-houses, or roaming around in search of work, the
live-in maids at least had a solid roof over their heads. The domestics
usually lived in middle- and upper-class homes in safe and relatively
clean neighbourhoods.
No
time was spent looking for housing and no initial investment needed
to buy furniture or basic kitchen utensils. The maid's limited free
time was carefully monitored by the employers. "The family" was
sure to report any unexpected absences or late arrivals of the maids.
In case of serious trouble or illness at least someone would notice
and beware. The stories of unidentified Finnish men found dead by
the railroad tracks, lost in the bush, or dying alone from an illness
did not have their female counterparts.
Someone,
whether from reasons of moral concern or meanness, was keeping tabs
on the maid's whereabouts and routines. For many younger women,
the employers became the surrogate family, disciplining and restricting
their social activities. This, of course, was a double-edged sword.
One summer evening when a Finnish maid in Toronto failed to come
home from the local dance at the agreed upon time of eleven, the
employers swiftly called the police. In her case the alarm was too
late as her beaten-up body was found on the outskirts of Toronto
in 1916, but her friend was saved from a similar fate.17
While
appreciating any genuine concern, many women resented the strict
scheduling of their free time. A Port Arthur maid remembers her
first evening off in 1910: I have been rebellious ever since I was
a child. On my only evening off, I was supposed to be back at 10:00
P.M. Well, I went to the hall to see a play and to dance afterwards
and didn't get back until one in the morning.
I
found the door bolted from the inside and my blood rushed to my
head. They treated me just as if I was a small child incapable of
looking after my own affairs. I banged on that door so hard that
they finally opened it, and I shouted in my broken English: 'I not
dog! I Sanni! I sleep inside!'18
In
addition to a safe "home" the domestics received regular meals.
Many farm girls who were used to hearty dinners, however, complained
of the small portions served. They had to sneak extra food from
the kitchen. Others went to a local Finnish restaurant on their
afternoon off "and stuffed themselves with pancakes" so that for
at least a day they would not go hungry.19
One
woman noted an ideological difference about eating and explained
in a letter to her mother: "Canadians don't give enough food to
anybody. They are afraid that if you eat too much you get sick and
the Finns are afraid that if you don't eat enough you get sick."20
Others
complained of the miserly manner in which the mistress checked all
food supplies. In one millionaire's home in Montreal, the maids
were not allowed to have cream in their coffee. "When the lady asked
for the hundredth time if there was cream in the coffee," explained
one frustrated maid, "my friend took the entire cream pitcher and
threw it against the wall." With a thoughtful sigh she added, "We
Finns, you know, we have such temper - that sisu - has caused many
a maid to lose her job."21
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On
the other hand, many women were fed good balanced diets, were introduced
to white bread, various vegetables and fruits unknown in their own
country. Not only did they receive regular meals, they learned to
"eat the Canadian way." Living with a Canadian family they also
learned to speak some English, usually enough to manage in the kitchen.
Jokingly they described their language as kitsi-Engelska. Many were
taught by their employers who found communication through a dictionary
too cumbersome, others took language classes provided by the Finnish
community during the "maid's day.
The
maids themselves realized the importance of learning the language:
...1 am so thankful that right away I was placed in a job where
there are only English-speaking people so that I just have to learn
when I don't even hear anything else and here that is the main thing
to learn to speak English first even when looking for work they
don't ask if you know how to work but if you know the language of
the country....22
Along
with language skills, the maids were also given an immersion course
on Canadian home appliances, customs and behaviour. On-the-job training
included the introduction to vacuum cleaners, washing machines and
the operation of gas ovens. The maids attentively observed the "ladies"
and were soon acquiring new role models. In amazement Finnish men
complained of the profusion of make-up used by the maids who had
started to playata laidia (play the lady).23
Women's
clothing reflected the new image - hats, gloves and silk stockings
being among the first items of purchase. Having obtained these symbols
of Canadianization, the maids rushed to the photography studios
and sent home pictures of themselves lounging on two-seater velvet
sofas, sniffing at a rose and revealing strategically placed silk-stockinged
legs. Other pictures showed women with huge hats, the likes of which
could only be worn by the nobility or the minister's wife in Finland.
24
We can imagine what effect these photographs had on the relatives
back home, or on the girlfriends still wearing tight scarves and
wool stockings. Only one month in Canada, and the photographs showed
a total transformation of a poor country woman into a sophisticated
"lady" sipping tea from a silver pot, some needlepoint resting on
her knee. When the community was so overwhelmingly composed of domestic
servants, comparisons with other occupations became irrelevant.
Instead the domestics created their own internal hierarchy. Their
status came from a job well done and they took pride in their honesty,
initiative and ability to work hard "to do what previously had taken
two women."
25
Together they worked to create a sound collective image and to improve
their working opportunities. Any deviance from this norm, any Finnish
woman perceived as "lazy" or dishonest, was severely chastised in
the Finnish-Canadian press for ruining the reputation of Finns as
"most desirable and highly paid domestic servants."26
On
an individual level, pride in their work - in their profession -
is reflected in the comments of the domestics interviewed for this
project. "My floors were the cleanest on the street," or "my laundry
was out the earliest every morning" are typical of the self-congratulatory
mood. Comparisons with other women were used to illustrate these
points: Nobody had scrubbed that dirt off, did they look at me when
I took off my only pair of shoes, got on my knees and scrubbed that
muck till you could have eaten from the floor. Women weren't supposed
to show their naked ankles, but heck, I wasn't about to ruin my
shoes. Another Finlander, they thought!27
They
worked hard to gain the trust of their employers, and then they
boasted, "If I said the sky was green, then the sky was green."28
Finnish
women often showed a strange mixture of an inferiority and superiority
complex. While they might have respected the position of the "Missis,"
they often felt great disdain for "her inability to do anything
right." While the generally perceived low status of domestic work
was not a serious deterrent to the Finnish immigrant women, the
demand for submissiveness was almost impossible for Finns to meet.
The
most serious and persistent complaints came from those domestics
who bemoaned their lack of privacy, their loss of individuality,
their sense of being totally controlled by a strange family. Domestics
who stayed with the same family for a long period of time lost their
chance to have a family of their own. Children and husbands were
seldom tolerated by the employers. Those lucky couples who were
able to hire themselves out as butler-maid teams were rare exceptions.29
Not
many husbands were satisfied to have a part-time wife who was available
only every other Sunday and one afternoon a week, although such
"hidden" marriages did exist. More often, the maid became an extension
of somebody else's family and an integral part of the daily routines,
but not necessarily any part of the emotional life. As years went
by and the maid aged, the chance of ever having a family of her
own became an impossible dream. The exceptionally high age of the
women giving birth in Montreal to illegitimate children - 37.6 in
1936-39 - suggests that some women made a deliberate decision to
have a child of their own while it was still physically possible.30
The
Finnish communities quickly adjusted to the maid's unusual time
schedules in order to have some social activity. Finnish organizations,
which until the thirties were largely socialist locals of the Finnish
Organization of Canada (FOC), scheduled their social occasions,
gymnastics practices, theatre rehearsals and dances during "the
maid's day." The halls kept their doors open so that the maids could
relax after their weekly pilgrimage to Eaton's.
They
could go and have coffee, meet each other, discuss the work situation,
find out about new job opportunities and for a few brief hours escape
from their employers. The FOC locals were not the only groups vying
for the maid's attention. Finnish congregations, especially in Toronto
and Montreal, also catered to them, scheduling their services for
Wednesday and Sunday evenings and providing social coffees and reading-rooms
for the maids.
NOTES
1.
Makeda Silvera, Silenced (Toronto, 1983), pp. 1140; Genevieve Leslie,
"Domestic Service in Canada, 1880-1920," in Janice Acton, Penny
Goldsmith and Bonnie Shepard, eds., Women at Work (Canadian Women's
Educational Press, 1974), pp. 71-125; in 1985 live-in domestic servants
are allowed to enter Canada without immigrant status as temporary
foreign workers.
2.
"Emigration from Finland 1893-1944," New Canadian Immigration Regulations
concerning emigration from Scandinavia and Finland, RG 76 vol. 651
C 4682, Public Archives of Canada.
3.
Leslie, "Domestic Service in Canada," Table A, p. 72.
4.
Marilyn J. Barber, "Below Stairs: The Domestic Servant," Material
History Bulletin, No. 19 (Ottawa, 1984), p. 38.
5.
The term in Finnish is piikomaan Amerikkaan.
6.
Dominion of Canada, Report of the Department of Immigration and
Colonization for the Fiscal Year ended March 31, 1929.
7.
"Finnish Immigrant Home Records," MG28 V 128 Vol. I File 1. grants
and the Depression: A Case Study of Montreal," Ph.D. II paper (York
University, 1981) and for information on Toronto see her "Tailor-Maid:
The Finnish Immigrant Community of Toronto before the First World
War," in Robert E Harney, ed., Gathering Place: Peoples and Neighhourhoods
of Toronto, 1834-1945 (MHSO, 1985).
9.
Interviews with Martta Norlen and Mary Syrjala, Winnipeg, 1983.
10.
Census of Canada, 1911, Volume Vl, Table 1, Occupations of the people
compared for all Canada."
11.
Interview with Tyyne Pihlajamaki, Timmins, 1982.
12.
Interview with Rolph Koskinen, Parry Sound, 1983.
13.
Interview with Helen Tarvainen, Toronto, 1978; see also Joan Sangster,
"Finnish Women in Ontario, 1890-1930,t' Polyphony, vol. 3, no. 2
(Fall 1981).
14.
American Letter Collection, LOlM:IV Letter from Aino Kuparinen,
a maid who came to Toronto in 1924.
15.
Interview with Lahja Soderberg, Vancouver, 1983.
16.
"Scandinavian and Finnish Domestics," RG 76 Vol. 436 File 654504.
17.
Interview with Martta Kujanpaa, Toronto, 1978.
18.
Interview with Sanni Salmijarvi, Thunder Bay, 1984.
19.
Interview with Martta Norlen, Winnipeg, 1983.
20.
American Letter Collection, EURA:XXI Letter from Aino Norkooli who
immigrated to Fort William, Ontario in 1923.
21.
Taped recording of Ida Toivonen's reminiscences in Thunder Bay,
1983 and her handwritten notes, both in the author's possession.
22.
American Letter Collection, KAR:CXXVI, letter from Sylvia Hakola
in Schreiber, Ontario dated 26.09.1926.
23.
Carl Ross, "Finnish American Women in Transition, 1910-1920," in
Michael G. Karni, ed., Finnish Diaspora 11: United States (MHSO,
1981).
24.
For example see Varpu Lindstrom-Best and Charles M. Sutyla, Terveisia
Ruusa-tadilta: Kanadan suomalaisten ensimmainen sukupolvi (Helsinki,
1984), especially the chapter on "Valokuvaajalla" (At the Photographers),
pp. 143-56.
25.
"Consulate of Finland Correspondence," MG8 G62 Vol. 2, File 59.
26.
Interview with Hilja Sihvola, Parry Sound, 1983.
27.
Ida Toivonen Recordings, Thunder Bay, 1983.
28.
Interview with Lahja Soderberg, Vancouver, 1983.
29.
Butler-maid, cook-chauffeur, etc., combinations were especially
popular during the depression when men could not obtain any other
kind of work.
30.
"St. Michael's Finnish Ev. Lutheran Church," Province of Quebec
Registration of a Live Birth, MG 8 G62 Vol. 7, Files 23-25.
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