Article: Narrowing the Gaps? Gender, Employment and Incomes on the Bonavista Peninsula, Newfoundland, 1951-1996

From a local economy based on an inshore fishery, the Bonavista Peninsula in the Canadian province of Newfoundland has beentransformed by the emergence of an industrial capitalist fishery. This area provides an excellent case study of women's experience in a process of development on the periph...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Sinclair, Peter R.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Mount Saint Vincent University 2002
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Online Access:https://atlantisjournal.ca/index.php/atlantis/article/view/1424
Description
Summary:From a local economy based on an inshore fishery, the Bonavista Peninsula in the Canadian province of Newfoundland has beentransformed by the emergence of an industrial capitalist fishery. This area provides an excellent case study of women's experience in a process of development on the periphery of core capitalist societies. In the early period, few women were formally employed. Based on survey and qualitative data sources, this paper documents changes in the relative position of women with respect to employment and incomes. Although by 1996 women remained in a disadvantaged position in most respects, growing labour force participation meant that women's patterns were increasingly similar to men's. This increased participation was not marked by an equivalent closing of the gap in incomes, except among the young. A partir d'une economie locale basee sur la peche cotiere, la peninsule Bonavista a ete transformee par 1'emergence d'une peche capitaliste industrielle. Ce secteur represente un excellent cas pour l'etude de l'experience des femmes dans le processus dedeveloppement dans la peripheric de base des societes capitalistes. Au debut, peu de femmes etaient employees officiellement. En se basant sur un sondage, et des sources de donnees qualitatives, cet articles documente les changements dans la position relative des femmes en ce qui a rappot a l'emploi et les revenus. Quoiqu'en 1996 les femmes demeuraient dans une position de desavantage dans la plupart des cas, une participation croissante dans le marche du travail signifiait que le situation des femmes devenait de plus en plus semblable a celle des hommes. Cette croissance de la participation des femmes n'etait pas marquee par un retrecissement de l'ecart des revenus excepte parmi les jeunes.