Laurie Mercier

Gender, labor, and place: reconstructing women's spaces in industrial communities of western Canada and the United States

Focusing on western Canada and US Pacific Northwest industrial communities during the mid-twentieth century, Laurie Mercier explores how myths about place and work have intertwined to reinforce gender inequalities in logging, mining, and longshoring. Through examining the activities of womens auxiliaries of the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, the International Woodworkers of America, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, the author traces how women actively reshaped the class politics, cultures, and spatial arrangements of their communities.