Library Award Papers - 2025 winners

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    Damsels Relieving Distress: The Role of Maritime Women in Relief Efforts Following The Halifax Explosion of 1917
    (Mount Saint Vincent University, 2025) Bates, Katie
    Historically, the figure of the ‘Maritime woman’ has been one portrayed in a singular dimension that is informed by conflated middle-class eurocentric narratives. In reality, Maritime women have always resided in a multi-dimensional space and, as such, were faced with societal paradigms in which to grapple and live with. This element of multi-dimensionality is specifically noted in analysing the roles which Maritime women held in the relief efforts following the Halifax Explosion. This crisis invoked a suspension of societal norms in order to address and minimize the harm inflicted on the Halifax population. Though relief efforts were informed by pre-existing social networks that were influenced by class-dynamics, women nonetheless were able to meaningfully participate in both the facilitation and organization of these relief efforts. The variety of positions that women held in the relief efforts following the Halifax Explosion of 1917— in the context of both female collectives and female individuals— demonstrates the multidimensionality and influence of twentieth-century Maritime women and the influence of the social structures that informed their lives.
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    Midwifery as an Exception to the Idea that Women's Work was Unskilled in Early Modern Europe
    (Mount Saint Vincent University, 2025) Gorman, Leah
    In early modern Europe, women played a vital role in supporting their families, yet their labour was often dismissed as domestic and unskilled. Despite the necessity of both husbands' and wives' contributions - whether in farming, artisanal trades, or household economies - women’s work was not considered productive and was rarely compensated on the same level as men’s. Midwifery, however, stood apart. Midwives possessed specialized knowledge that regularly saved the lives of mothers and infants, making childbirth one of the few domains where women's expertise was both recognized and relied upon.