‘T the day has ar-
-hat all of us have

so patiently, the
‘ve worked so hard
Qos: the day when
Breet the mothers,

-s and sweethearts of
tl men and boys who
Ur marched away to
stant shores so that
B, -Ganada might live
| .s in peace and secur-
y has come and with
be she world over gave
+ at last the mass
at an end and once

fan turn our thoughts
fon the ways of peace.

* ously with the proc-
eet peace, came the
 arning of mass lay-
: industries,
and cancellation of
3 and already our
| / faced with the prob-
employment and re-
Fog standards. The
“lem of xeconversion
‘itation now. confronts
- of the questions fre-
ing asked is “What
men going to do now,
return to the home,
- pursuits, restaurant
/ ng and teaching pro-
# >? This question is
; ie of the major. prob-
; vill have to be solved
/ nversion plan.

- the war

© itself has brought
© a change in the whole
> our Canadian woman,
status, her ability to
elf to new and haz-
-s of living and above
aonstration of ability
_- jobs that had hither-
» erved “for men only.”
jan women helped to
; and aeroplanes and
‘ools and munitions so
; :o bring about victory.

filled many important
» sential civilian occupa-
-*-ge numbers of women
a. three branches of the
vices thereby releas-
- rs of the armed forces
F service.

© 1, 1945, the total fe-
& oopulation in Canada,
sof age and over was
E to be 4,382,000. Of
4 estimated 1,077,000
_ the armed services or
© employed in industries
n*agyrieulture. At that
000 women’ were em-
war industry and 31,-

at the war is over, will

“men who left their
1d the other restricted
ch were open to women
|x days in order to. enter
| us industries necessary
joroduction, be willing to
_ these conditions? Ac-
Eo the women themselves
1 be some who may want
>, but the majority of
ive no desire to return
ear conditions of employ-
-d restriction. They wish
‘Aue to work at employ-
ey like and have been
for, and, which is vitally
at, to work for wages
l give them a_ decent
‘i of living.

sa little alarming to
‘© opening remarks of a
soadcast delivered by Mrs
aton, Associate Director

tional Selective Service,

rs ADVOCATE — PAGE

E

Women in the Peace

a -

and also head of the women’s
division. :

She began her broadcast by
stating, “Every day and from
all parts of Canada I am being
asked the question, ‘When am I
going to get a maid 2” Such a
statement coming almost simul-
taneously with mass layoffs of
wsomen and girls from the war
industries and with the dis-
charge of thousands of girls from
the services, sounds an ominous
note of warning to the , labor
movement to be on guard against
the return. to such conditions
prevailing in the hungry thirties
when women and girls through-
out Canada were forced to accept
the wretched conditions. that
went with the “position of maid.”

We are all well. aware of just
what those conditions were, any-
where from ten to sixteen hours
per day and seven days per week,
with hole in the corner accom-
modation for the “maid” and in
a great many cases, food or
should I say ‘“‘sustenance,” which
had to be consumed at a separ-
ate table and: very often from
the scraps left by the employer,
and all for the magnificent wage
of from ten to fifteen dollars
per month.

Those women who would like
to see a return to the miserable
pre-war conditions of employ-
ment, should be told in no un-
certain manner that the women
and girls who contributed so
much: to the winning of the war
through their efforts on the pro-
duction line have absolutely no
intention of returning to the
pre-war conditions of slavery.

It would appear that there are |1

still women in Canada who are
unaware of the tremendous so
cial change that the war brought
to thousands of their sex. Our
Canadian women and girls have
learned what it means to be in-
dependent through training and
valuable practical experience
both in the different industries
and through the channels of the
trade union movement. They have
learned, also by practical ex-
perience what the slogan “equal
pay for equal work’? means, and
that it was the united efforts of
the trade unions that made this
possible. “

*

HE trade union movement
would be extending its influ-

ence amongst women at this par-
ticular time if they could in some
manner provide an avenue of
organization for those who may
desire to make home making
what, it should be and to remove
the stigma which has so long
existed in connection with this
kind of work.

Another thing too, is the fact
that our returning veterans are
finding out that very often “the
man behind the man behind the
gun” at home -was in a great
many instances a woman, and I
feel sure that they too do not
want to see their sisters, wives
and mothers having to return
again to ways of slavery in ord-
er to eke out an existence.

Those people who want to see
a return to pre-war conditions

in the labor market both for
11

men and women, when unemploy-
ment, misery and hunger was
the lot of many of our Canad-
ians, would do well to remember
that this war we have just
brought to a successful military
victory was a “people’s war’ and
the labor movement along with
the returning veterans and all
forward thinking people are go-
ing to see to it that a “people’s
peace” will be~- established and
maintained.

-We. must, not permit a situa-
tion to arise when the youth of
our country are again herded
into relief camps at 20 cents per
day; we must see to it that men
do not have to leave their fam-
jlies in one part of the country
|to go to work in another section,
with all the added expense of
maintenance; in order to eke out
an existence for themselves and
families. We must combat all at-
tempts that will now be made to
pit one section of the population
against the other; returning vet-
erans against displaced war

men workers; young people
against older people and so on;
and we must particularly guard
against race discrimination at
this time: :

by Jean Mason

worker; women workers against.

Those women who desire a re-
turn to the “maid system”, will
have to be made to understand
that only on a very different ba-
sis will women return to domes-
tic pursuits. There will have to
be established trade union stan-
dards, both for work and wage
rates. There will have to be def-
jnite hours of work and also de-
finite definitions of work. One
woman or girl should never a-
gain be permitted to become
cook, laundry maid, dishwasher,
gardener and baby tender all rol-
led into one and for the sum of
ten or fittecn dollars per month.

N this respect there is a great

need for community planning
so that family life can become-
more humanely organized. We
need community centers in all
localities, catering to the needs
of all age groups. We need com-
munity day nurseries and child
care_centres, and we very defin-
itely need a whole system of rec-
reational facilities. Dorise Neil-
sen in her book, “New Worlds
for Women” has some very
worthwhile suggestions along

those interested in seeing wo-
men maintain her freedom, to
read it.

It is interesting to recall that
it was during the first world
war that women acquired the’
wight to vote. I believe that the
valuable experiences gained dur- .
ing the course of the second °
world war will have taught Can-
adian women how to use that
vote and in the coming Provin-
cial election in British Columbia,
the woman’s vote can be one of
the determining factors in elect-
ing a peace time government
whose major responsibility will
be that of providing jobs for
all, decent homes to live in and
a future that will justify all of
the sacrifices made during the
war years.

As we have united to defeat
the enemy abroad, let us now
remain united to maintain the
peace. Just as it was possible to
provide full employment for all
in order to bring victory, so is
it now possible with correct
planning and co-operation of all
bodies concerned to treate jobs
for peace. We have only to con-
sider the trmendous rehabilita-
tion needs of our own country,
to say nothing of what is requir-
ed to assist the liberated peoples
of Europe in the way of food,
clothing and all kinds of con-
sumer goods, to realize that

there can be full employment
for our people. Let’s remain un-
ited and the new life that we
hoped and worked so hard to
bring about will surely mater-

these lines and I would advise

jalize in the very near future.

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