Angels of the Workplace: Women and the Construction of Gender Relations in the Canadian Clothing Industry, 1890-1940. By Mercedes Steedman (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1997. ix plus 333pp.).

In this study of an industry which women numerically dominated, sociologist Mercedes Steedman provides a fascinating analysis of the process of gender discrimination that condemned them to second-class status and inferior rewards. Like other social scientists, she has found the garment industry to be a particularly fertile ground for investigating the gender dynamics of work. In Canada, the ready-made clothing industry was one of the earliest and largest industrial employers of women. Before the First World War women accounted for approximately 80 per cent of workers, and in 1941, for just under 70 per cent. The mixed ethnic composition of the work force, and the fierce struggle of trade unions of various ideological stripes to gain a firm foothold in the industry, provide additional grist for the researcher's mill.

Steedman situates her study in a now familiar feminist theoretical framework that highlights class, gender, and ethnicity as the primary determinants of women's experience. She also stresses the interconnectedness of family and workplace, arguing that patriarchal ideals and family practices regarding proper roles for women and men moulded gender relations in the workplace. Thus when women, who were ideally to be angels in the home, took to the factory floor, "they were perceived as 'angels', the 'other', separated from the earthly hierarchy and expected to follow the bidding of the men who worked around them ... "(2).

As the author herself concedes, however, the "angel" analogy is not entirely fitting. Clearly women in the clothing industry were fully human and struggled daily against the consequences of being caught in an earthly hierarchy in which they occupied the lowest ranks. A more accurate title for the book might have been "Little Sisters" in the Workplace: Men's Treatment of Women in the Ontario and Quebec Clothing Industries, 1890-1940, since the focus is on how men in the garment industry in central Canada constructed gender relations in the workplace. According to Steedman, working-class men treated women workers as "little sisters" who needed men to speak for them and to protect them. She traces in great detail how trade unionists acted with male managers and government officials to define and redefine what constituted skilled labour to the detriment of women workers.

Although Steedman represents the women workers in her introduction as "highly skilled workers ... ready to take action in the streets or factories, to do battle with the authorities of government and workplace ... "(2), most of her discussion underlines their marginality because it concentrates on men's actions. Men in the industry consistently robbed women of their identity as adult workers by referring to them as "girls" and by viewing them as unskilled or semi-skilled, transient workers. Thus one is left wondering about the extent of female workers' agency, since little evidence is presented for it. The author does use interviews with a handful of retired female garment workers to attenuate the male-dominated narrative by giving women a voice. It is regrettable, however, that she did not conduct more interviews with French-Canadian workers, who accounted for the majority of workers in the Quebec garment industry after 1930. Another useful source of information about French-Canadian workers and their activ ism would have been the Montreal newspapers, but there is no evidence that the author used either the English-language or the French-language press. By using these sources, Steedman might have been able to provide a more satisfying explanation as to why" ... young French-Canadian women moved into a union movement led by older Jewish men" (176) who did not view them as their equals. She mentions only very briefly the Quebec Catholic trade union movement during the 1930s. Yet, in early 1937, approximately one hundred employers in the Montreal garment industry recognized affiliates of the Confederation des travailleurs catholiques du Canada as the bargaining agent for their employees. Thus, by familiarizing the workers with industrial trade unionism, the Catholic unions helped to lay the groundwork for the organizational drive and famous strike led by the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union in 1937.

As Steedman's book reveals, the Canadian garment industry was incredibly complex. Men's and women's clothing production had distinctive characteristics and dynamics, and each was further fragmented into various manufacturing sectors (coats, suits, shirts, dresses, etc.) The age, gender, and ethnic composition of the work force varied considerably according to type of clothing manufactured, As a result, the author's detailed account is complicated and sometimes hard to follow. Organizing the material first by industry sector and by province (men's clothing industry or women's clothing industry in Ontario/Quebec) and then chronologically within each sector might have made it easier for the reader to extract significant comparisons and contrasts in the consequences of the sexual division of labour and union activities across sectors.

"A touch of couture. Everybody deserves a touch of couture."

That's what Tina Knowles said when, on the red carpet at yet another glamorous event, she was asked about the new fashion line that she and daughter Beyonce have launched. Tina emphasizes that House of Dereon is much more than just couture. It is also kick and soul.

Since Beyonce became a pop and fashion icon with megahit girl group Destiny's Child as a teen, the mother-daughter duo has established a reputation for creating and strutting fabulous cutting-edge fashions. Beyonce always has credited her mother, the group's stylist who started designing performance costumes for Beyonce when she was a child.

Tina, Beyonce and Destiny's Child have launched a number of fashion trends. So it's not surprising that mother and daughter would launch their own line. They call it House of Dereon in honor of Tina's late mother, Agnez Dereon, who is their creative inspiration. From Mama Agnez comes the soul. Tina's influence is the couture. Beyonce says she added the kick.

"I'm excited about House of Dereon," says Beyonce. "It's been my dream and my mother's dream for a long time. So many opportunities have come, but I did not want to put my name on something I would not wear, that I was not a part of. We have put together a great team and I have input on every item that we are developing. I add my flavor-the kick-to it all.

"House of Dereon is named after my grandmother, so it is a celebration of three generations," the multitalented artist continues. "I love the clothes from the '70s, my mother's clothes. I love clothes from the '40s, my grandmother's style, so elegant. We wanted to take elements from my grandmother's legacy--the beaded lace, lush colors, fine fabrics--and mix them with clothes from my mother's generation and my generation."

Tina Knowles echoes her daughter's enthusiasm. "I grew up surrounded by great style," says the East Texas and Louisiana native, adding that Beyonce was brought up in that same kind of style-conscious environment. "Dereon is dedicated to my mother's memory and it is a reflection of everything that she brought to both our lives ... My mother was ahead of her time," says Tina, sipping water in the showroom of Dereon's New York offices. On a rack nearby is an original dress created by Mama Agnez. "She used paper to cut her patterns," Tina continues. "She made beautiful dresses for customers and for us. She did a lot of hand-smocking and beading. She crocheted, knitted, upholstered furniture."

Tina says the family "had no money, we grew up poor," and as a child she wondered how her parents could afford to send her and her siblings to private Catholic school. "I later learned that my mother paid part of the tuition by making robes for altar boys, cloaks for the priests and altar cloths for the church. She was really talented. People would come to her for prom dresses and fancy gowns."

Tina adds that her daughters don't sew, but they know about "darts and hemming and what makes clothing fit well." Tina tells of the time that Destiny's Child was scheduled to perform at a U.S. presidential inaugural event for teens, and the wardrobe luggage was lost. When Tina rushed from the venue to find a local store, she forgot her identification and backstage pass. Security would not let her back in. As show time approached, Beyonce and colleagues resorted to embellishing T-shirts and jeans with studs and sequins and were on stage performing--and looking great--by the time Tina fought her way backstage.

That resourcefulness obviously came from the stylist and author who put the girls on the fashion map. Another close call came when, a few hours before she was to perform for Nelson Mandela in South Africa, Beyonce learned she was to do a second number. Tina rushed to the local market to get fabric, cut out a dress "free-hand," stitched up the sides, and wrapped fabric around her daughter's head. "It turned out beautifully," recalls Tina. "We kept the dress as a souvenir; we have a picture of Beyonce wearing it with Mr. Mandela. That time I surprised myself."

Neither fans nor fashion mavens should be surprised by the exquisite selections offered by House of Dereon, which caters to ages 13 to 40. The greatly anticipated holiday and denim collections are now in fine department and specialty stores. "I'm working on fall 2006 right now," says Tina.

"It's my dream, but I'm finding out just how much work is involved," she says of the fashion world. "It's a lot of work. Yet, it is a labor of love for this talented mother-daughter team that seems to be unstoppable on so many fronts.