This collection of essays investigates how gender roles have been constructed, contested, and transformed across two centuries of Canadian history. The authors, Cecilia Morgan, Kathryn McPherson, and Nancy Forestell, curate a series of scholarly examinations that utilize primary source research to challenge traditional historical narratives. By focusing on the intersection of femininity and masculinity, the text argues that gender is a fundamental category of analysis for understanding the development of Canadian social, religious, and economic structures.

Scholars and historians recognize this volume as a foundational text for understanding the development of gender history within the Canadian academic landscape. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which serves as a rigorous resource for students and researchers in the field of social history.