The Icelandic Canadian - 01.08.2009, Page 39

Vol. 62 #3
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
129
gallery in her reply to the throne in 1937,
“government is only a larger housekeep-
ing.” According to Halldorson, female
political participation was also an impor-
tant reserve force in the nation’s battle with
the dire social and economic conditions of
the 1930s. “If the men, holding the reins of
government, had managed as well, we
would not now be faced with as we are a
state of economic chaos for which our lead-
ers have no apparent remedy...”
This language fits well into the histori-
ography of the role of gender in Social
Credit politics, particularly their broader
vision of women’s economic freedom as
directly linked to the protection of accept-
able female labour within the domestic
sphere. Although recognize the party’s
attention to female poverty and the election
of a small handful of female officials in the
1930s as evidence of comparatively pro-
gressive gender politics, understanding the
conditional nature of their acceptance of
female political participation is crucial to
locating the parameters of Halldorson’s
involvement and prospects both within the
party. It was the underlying notion of sub-
servience evident in the domestic imagery
used to justify female political participa-
tion, argues Bob Hesketh which also
resulted in the dramatic decline and almost
complete elimination of official female
political participation following the party’s
purging of Douglesite and anti-Semitic ele-
ments in the post-war era. He writes that
the interwar era presented unique opportu-
nities for female activists, resulting in the
creation of what he terms the women’s
“crusader phase” of the late 1930s and early
1940s, also coinciding with the party’s
transition from a left-of- centre to a right
wing party. Yet he cautions against under-
standing this period as one of unfettered
feminism since “the restraints inherent in
the concept that a woman’s political
activism was essentially justified by her
domestic virtue became more and more
obvious within Social Credit through the
1940s.” Adding to this construction of con-
ditional, subservient female power, both
Halldorson and her female counterparts in
Alberta associated female political partici-
pation with “economic chaos” and the per-
vasive delineation from common sense.
Although these women argued that female
political participation provided the remedy
to what they described as the inherently
male political and economic corruption,
they also discussed women’s political
power as a secondary, “emergency” force.
“When money is plentiful, this is a man’s
world,” wrote Halldorson, “when money
is scarce, it is a woman’s world.”
Halldorson was among several women
elected through the party in the 1930s
including Edith Gostick, Edith Rogers and
Cornelia Wood. While the relatively large
number of women elected to and involved
with the party during this “crusader phase”
is impressive, women who aspired to posi-
tions of leadership within the party during
this period still faced significant barriers.
Although Aberhart initially accepted
women as electoral candidates, his beliefs
Consulate of
Iceland
Gordon J. Reykdal
Honorary Consul
17631 - 103 Avenue, Edmonton,
Alberta T5S 1N8 CANADA
Tel: (780) 408-5118
Cell: (780) 497-1480
Fax: (780) 443-2653
E-mail: gord@csfinancial.ca