Jan Noel, “‘Nagging Wife’ Revisited”

Noel’s “Nagging Wife’s Revisited “, concentrates on women in the fur trade and their different roles in New France. It narrows this by fixating on the role of the native and elite women of New France, and their involvement/characteristics in the economy. The Lower and Middle classes of women in the fur trade did not have the same advantages as the elite women, due to their social categorizations, such as their race, class or economic status. The elite women of the fur trade demonstrated that they were a big part of the fur trade economy. “This active participation was quite normal in New France, compared to the women in Europe[1].” The woman of the fur trade played an essential part in the trade of raw materials. Their roles in what resource they traded also depended on her status and marital ties. To conclude, generally it was the upper classes of the elite women that benefited from their privileged positions, due to their wealthy husbands and their own form of status’.

 [1]      Jan Noel, “‘Nagging Wife’ Revisited: Women and the Fur Trade in New France” in Rethinking Canada: The Promise of Women’s History. 6th ed. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press, 2011.