An Examination of Conditions Surrounding the Subordination of Nursing Labour in Canadian Hospitals During the Nineteenth Century

This thesis presents an examination of the processes surrounding the subordination of nursing labour in Canadian hospitals during the nineteenth century. Special emphasis is placed on the appropriation by hospitals of, first, the nursing practices of female lay practitioners, and second, the knowledge and skills which lay at the heart of those practices. In addition, the conditions of female labour at the end, of the nineteenth century are examined in order to explain why women subordinated their labour to hospitals.