"Framing Our Past emphasizes the lived experiences of women: their participation in many areas of social life, such as social rituals with other women; organized sporting clubs; philanthropic, spiritual, and aesthetic activities; study and reading groups. The authors then focus on women's roles as nurturers and keepers of the hearth - their experiences with family management, child care, and health concerns. They consider women's varied contributions within formal and informal educational systems as well as their instrumental political role in consumer activism, social work, peace movements, and royal commissions. Canadian women's shaping of health care and science through nursing, physiotherapy and research are discussed, as are other forms of women's work, from domestic labour to broadcasting to banking."--Jacket.