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Marie Joussaye Fotheringham (1864-1949) was born in Belleville, Ontario. During the 1890s she became involved in Toronto\u2019s labour movement as a poet and later as President of the Working Girls\u2019 Union. This activism played a key role in her organization of female domestic servants \u2014 the most common form of paid employment for Canadian women before 1900 \u2014 into the Working Women\u2019s Protective Association. One of her campaigns was for Sunday streetcars!<\/span><\/p>\n Fotheringham is also considered to be Canada\u2019s first female working-class poet. In her book <\/span>The Songs That Quinte Sang<\/span><\/i>, you can find her most famous piece, <\/span>Only A Working Girl<\/span><\/i>. The poem compares the working class to royalty in the eye of God and calls for women to be proud of the work they are doing. Below is the first stanza of her poem.<\/span><\/p>\n I know I am only a working girl, With willing feet I press along Canada\u2019s First Woman Labour Poet Marie Joussaye Fotheringham (1864-1949) was born in Belleville, Ontario. During the 1890s she became involved in Toronto\u2019s labour movement as a poet and later as President of the Working Girls\u2019 Union. This activism played a… Read more ![\"Cover](\"http:\/\/www.cmg.ca\/toronto\/cbc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/songsthatquintesang-208x300.png\")
Only A Working Girl<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0And I am not ashamed to say
\n<\/span>I belong to the ranks of those who toil
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0For a living, day by day.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0In the paths that I must tread,
\n<\/span>Proud that I have the strength and skill
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0To earn my daily bread.<\/span><\/p>\nGet involved<\/span><\/h2>\n
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