“Fraternally Yours”: The Role of Women in Montreal’s Prominent Scottish Fraternities, 1870s–2000s

Abstract

Fraternal societies were integral to both the social and fiscal security of newcomers and to established generations of Scottish-Canadians in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In Montreal, scholars have identified the pan-Canadian Sons of Scotland Benevolent Association and St. Andrew’s Society of Montreal as having been particularly active fraternal organizations. Much of the existing literature on Scottish associational culture in Canada understands it in terms of ethnicity. However, the underexplored concept of gender in associational culture can provide an equally valuable framework. Despite a seemingly shared ethnic identity, the lived experiences, beliefs, identities, socio-economic realities, religions, genders and approaches to inclusion were markedly different among Scottish-Canadian Montrealers. Through the use of an oral history project, the Sons of Scotland Benevolent Association and St. Andrew’s Society archives, and peer-reviewed literature, this article illuminates gender issues in androcentric Scottish-Canadian fraternal societies through careful examination of women’s lives within and on the periphery of Montreal’s fraternal orders.