Who counts? Nuns, work, and the Census of Canada
Date
2010
Authors
MacDonald, Heidi
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Ottawa Press
Abstract
Although women religious (commonly called nuns) have historically been a large
group of mostly professional women, they were regularly excluded from what the
Census of Canada defined as the work force. In the censuses from 1871 to 1991,
the categories in which nuns were enumerated varied, resulting in impossible fluctuations
in their numbers and under-reporting of their contributions to the work force.
Nor are the statistics provided by the Roman Catholic Church reliable for estimating
the number of nuns working in Canada in any given year. How nuns were reported
in the census has had significant implications for the ways in which they have been
portrayed or neglected by labour historians.
Description
Permission to include this article granted by the editor of Histoire Sociale/Social History
Keywords
Women religious , Nuns , Census of Canada, 1871-1991 , Nuns -- Canada -- History , Nun's work , Census classification of nuns , Women's work
Citation
MacDonald, H. (2010). Who counts? Nuns, work and the Census of Canada. Histoire Sociale/Social History, 86, 369-391.