Empêcher la famille«

Fécondité et contraception au Québec, 1920-60

Bibliographic Data

ID20604394
AuthorsDanielle Gauvreau (0000-0002-0219-932X), Peter Gossage
Year1997
Volume78
Issue3
Pages385-408
Publication date1997-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCanadian Historical Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0008-3755 • E-ISSN: 1710-1093
PublisherUniversity of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.3138/chr.78.3.385
OpenAlexW2130214157
LanguageFR
Citations received6
References cited18

L’evolution a la baisse de la taille des familles a partir de la fin du XIXe siecle au Quebec ne peut s’etre produite que parce que les couples d’alors ont utilise des moyens pour limiter la taille de leur descendance. Dans un effort pour mieux comprendre cette evolution, le present article met a profit la richesse des approches qualitative et quantitative pour explorer les questions suivantes: moyens de contraception utilises, facteurs lies au recours a la contraception, motifs invoques en faveur ou a l’encontre de celle-ci, dynamique du processus de decision au sein du couple. L’information utilisee concerne essentiellement la periode allant de 1920 a 1960; elle provient de deux corpus d’enquetes orales realisees respectivement a Montreal et au Saguenay, ainsi que de l’Enquete de fecondite du Quebec de 1971. L’analyse de ces donnees laisse entrevoir l’impact de facteurs a la fois demographiques (rapidite de constitution de la famille), socioeconomiques (categorie socioprofessionnelle du mari) et culturels (education, religion) qui interviennent a differents niveaux, individuel et collectif, ou se joue cette importante revolution des comportements. Abstract: A movement towards smaller families emerged at the end of the nineteenth century in Quebec, no doubt because couples had begun using contraceptive techniques to limit family size. This article attempts to explain this development better by taking advantage of the rich potential of qualitative and quantitative approaches of investigation. It focuses its attention on the following issues: methods of birth control used, factors linked to its use, reasons invoked for and against contraception, and the dynamics at play within the couple’s decision-making process. The information relates mainly to the period between 1920 and 1960; it is drawn from two sets of interviews conducted in Montreal and the the Saguenay region, respectively, as well as from the Quebec Fertility Survey of 1971. Data analysis suggests that the impact of various types of factors affecting both the individual and the collectivity accounts for this major change in attitude. Demographic (such as the rapid formation of families), socio-economic (such as the husband’s occupational category), and cultural factors (such as educational level and religion) all came into play

Art · Ethnology · Humanities · Political science · Sociology · Canadian Identity and History · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes

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