Description

This it the first full study about the biggest and longest lasting group of female imperialists in the British Empire - the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire (IODE). After placing the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire in the context of recent scholarly work in Canadian, gender, imperial history, and post-colonial theory, the book follows the IODE's history through the 20th century. Chapters focus upon the IODE's attempts to create a British Canada through its maternal feminist work in education, health, welfare, and citizenship. In addition it reflects on the IODE's responses to threats to Anglo-Canadian hegemony posed by immigration, World Wars, and Communism, and examines the complex relationship between imperial loyalty and settler nationalism.