Adelaide hunter hoodless biography sample

Conservatives opposed Adelaide Hoodless on political grounds: although John Hoodless was a Conservative, she had retained her commitment to Liberalism and enjoyed strong connections with the party. In spite of the opposition the Hamilton Board of Education agreed to fund the teaching of the new subject under the auspices of the Hamilton YWCA in , but the experiment was not renewed the following year.

Local officials wanted the province to bear the cost of this program and noted that the trial had failed to include a sufficient number of working-class students. Beginning in she excited his interest in special instruction for girls and led him to tour new facilities in the United States. Although the Department of Education provided no money initially, regulations were issued in governing the curriculum for home economics where local school boards chose to introduce it and allowing for the examination of teachers in this subject.

It was geared to the audience that became her first preoccupation, young women training to become teachers. Moreover, the minister employed Hoodless to prepare occasional reports for publication on the teaching of home economics in Ontario, the first of which was published in The department also assumed the expenses she incurred on trips around the province to persuade local school boards to begin instruction in home economics.

She excelled in public speaking and knew how to appeal to her largely male audiences. While she castigated the school system for its injustice to women, she extended to her listeners, in a way they could understand, the comforting reassurance that home economics would restore the old sexual division of labour. Between and she gave over 60 addresses.

One speech resulted in her becoming venerated worldwide as founder of an organization to advance the education of rural women. The idea quickly spread, benefiting in Ontario from the financial and organizational support of the provincial Department of Agriculture. Success on a number of fronts led Hoodless to aspire to close the existing school of domestic science in Hamilton and to replace it with the foremost institute for training home economics teachers in the country, one with the best facilities, the highest admission standards, and the most rigorous course of study.

Teachers educated in the United States and Britain had been hired, and local medical doctors and instructors from the OAC were brought in as supplementary staff. Students took some of their classes at another teacher-training institute, the Ontario Normal College, also in Hamilton. Buoyed by connections with the National Council of Women and the Department of Education, Hoodless emerged as the pre-eminent advocate of home economics in Canada.

She carried her messages to other provinces, visited the United States frequently, and attended the International Congress of Women in London in At home, however, she began to encounter set-backs.

Adelaide hunter hoodless biography sample

After John Hoodless experienced severe business problems she resigned as treasurer of the National Council of Women in , but continued on the executive after becoming provincial vice-president for Ontario the following year. Mills was now joined in these efforts by Hoodless, who believed that agriculture and household arts were the two areas that offered unlimited opportunities to women.

In she travelled to Montreal to meet Macdonald. Early in a grant to establish the Macdonald Institute of Home Economics in association with the OAC was announced and construction begun. Hoodless helped Mills design the physical facilities and the curriculum. The program moved to the OAC, where classes commenced in unfinished premises in September.

The formal opening was held in December Her request to develop a graded curriculum in home economics was also denied. At age 24, she married John Hoodless, moved to Hamilton, and began a family. Following the death of her son from drinking contaminated milk in , Adelaide began a campaign for improved home conditions and education for expectant mothers in nutrition, sanitation, and housekeeping.

Unable to secure funding from the Ontario government to continue her work, Hoodless appealed to William Macdonald, a tobacco magnate, who donated money to build the Macdonald Institute, which became part of the Ontario Agricultural Institute at Guelph in Hoodless continued to teach and lecture on domestic science. One of her talks before the Farmers' Institute at Stoney Creek, in which she suggested the establishment of a similar forum for women, resulted in the formation of the women's department of the Farmers' Institute later renamed The Women's Institute of Stoney Creek.

Established in as a rural society whose objective was to promote the knowledge of home economics and child care, it served as a model for similar rural societies which began springing up throughout the world. Eventually the societies all affiliated with the Associated Country Women of the World, perhaps the largest nonpolitical women's association ever, with 8 million members in societies in 68 countries.

Adelaide Hoodless died on February 26, , while on a fund-raising campaign at St. Margaret's College in Toronto. The elementary school , now known as the Adelaide Hoodless School, celebrated its 75th anniversary in It stressed the importance of hygiene, cleanliness and frugality. When she spoke that night, she suggested forming a group with a purpose to broaden the knowledge of domestic science and agriculture as well as to socialize.

Adelaide returned one week later on February 19, to find women in attendance. Her own campaign merged nicely with this goal. By October of , the Ministry of Education was about to make domestic science a regular part of curriculum in Ontario schools. But Adelaide already had her sights on the next step. She wanted Domestic Science to be offered at the university level.

The rest of the story many of you already know. All ofthis took place over one hundred years ago. First, she has left us an exemplary guide to success. She wasdetermined, focused, knowledgeable, passionate and well-spoken. She knew whatshe was talking about, and she knew who to talk to. She never lost sight of hergoal, and she expanded her aspirations as opportunities presented themselves.

Suddenly the crash of a glass was heard, she fell to the floor lifeless.