Both the article by Noel and the article by Leduc, present the reader with depictions of the specific roles that women played in New France during colonial times. Leduc establishes the means by which many young women arrived to Colonial New France by visually encapsulating the role of women known as ‘filles du roi’ in a letter that she writes to her husband’s ancestor. Noel goes on to argue that women were not relegated as simple homemakers. Instead, women were dynamic, savvy, highly resourceful and entrepreneurial individuals in the poor colonies that they inhabited.
What is very apparent in Noel’s article is that the woman in roles outside of the typical homemaker was out of necessity due to their husband’s long excursions away on business ventures, inability to manage the affairs of the family or untimely deaths. Even more importantly, these women were highly successful in their economic pursuits.[1] When Louise Denys de la Ronde died, her assets were over 46,000 livres.[2] Interestingly, the ‘filles du roi’ were said to be orphans and wards of King Louis xiv. Having come from very humble beginnings and likely to never be anything more than their title of orphan; many of these women were offered an opportunity to be something more in New France and one could surmise that these women and their descendants did not let that opportunity go to waste. Being a homemaker and raising a family was just the beginning.[3] This was interesting when considering the roles of women and how they shifted out of necessity. Not only were women highly adaptable they were also very skilled in their roles. Noel shares an excerpt of a report written by a French Engineer, whereby the engineer realizes that the “best birch-bark canoes in the colony”[4] were being constructed by women and girls. The reader found gender roles during the colonial time in New France to be highly interesting; seemingly in some ways similar to the time of hunter gatherers. Because these families were colonizing, would this present an environment that would be similar to those times? Everyone was expected to partake in maintaining the farm and the idea of spending all day indoors attending to knitting was unheard of. Noel maintains that this behaviour was definitely a reinvention of the preindustrial era in a way, due to the multifaceted role that women led in the “expansive wilderness that constituted New France.”[5]
Colonial times in New France opened up a new world for the “fille du roi”. Through hard work and solid determination, women were able to put their industrious and entrepreneurial spirits into action; often with great success. Both articles were believable and highly interesting reads.
[1] Jan Noel, “’Nagging Wife’ Revisited: Women and the Fur Trade in New France,” French Colonial History, no. 7 (2006): 47-49.
[2] Jan Noel, “’Nagging Wife’ Revisited: Women and the Fur Trade in New France,” French Colonial History, no. 7 (2006): 48.
[3] Adrienne Leduc, “A Fille du Roi’s Passage,” Beaver, no. 81, Issue 1 (Feb/Mar 2001): 1-2.
[4] Jan Noel, “’Nagging Wife’ Revisited: Women and the Fur Trade in New France,” French Colonial History, no. 7 (2006): 51.
[5] Jan Noel, “’Nagging Wife’ Revisited: Women and the Fur Trade in New France,” French Colonial History, no. 7 (2006): 52.