The future is bright

_ By MONA MORGAN

young woman on.the bus
“"® was on her way to work. She
was a forewoman in a garment
factory. And she was worried.
‘There was no. one person with
. whom she could leave her three-
vyear-old Robin. Almost every
week he was in a different home.
He had always been such a gay,
happy youngster but now he drew
’ away when people spoke to him.
He was a different : little boy,
nowadays.

_. Yet, what could she do? She
had to work. During the past
year her husband had been off
work as much as he had been em-
ployed at the plant where he had

‘ worked for the past 10 years.

_ , All this she told me in the brief

. time we rode together, eager to

::@iscuss with somebody, anybody,
the problem which plagued every

-hour that she worked. _

“OQ Canada, O lovely land”...
such beauty, such vast stretches
of land, such. power, so much of

everything for..a good life for
everyone.

But’ thousands of mothers go
‘through every day of the year
worrying about every-day needs;
such a little pay cheque, or none;
no nursery schools for working
-mothers; no money for. school
books. Insecurity is all around,
yet parents strive by every means

- to give their children the security
so necessary for a happy life.

- Not least of the damaging in-

‘fluences are the crime and horror
“comics,” movies and TV. As a
member of my PTA observed the

- other night, “Saying that kids to-
day are the sanfe as they were 20

years ago is just hiding the’prob- .

lem.. Twenty years ago. there
were no youngsters in prisons.
- Now there isn’t room to house the
young offenders.”
- It isn’t that the children them-
“selves are different. The condi-
tions are different. Not only does
‘the long arm of the United States
reach into Canada to grab our
mines and forests but its maga-
zine publishers pour \crime
“comics” by the millions of copies
in our country to warp our chil-
~dren’s minds. And all this for
‘profit. =
=

a

But Canadian women won't sit -

‘idly by. :
_ Right through history, wherever

--there was a cause there were

women fighters alongside their
men. In fighting for the vote, in
trade union struggles, in peace
movements — everywhere women
have shown their determination

to help make the world a better ~

place to live. j

Back in the days of the Reform-

ers, for instance: :

“That Mrs. Widow Laperriere
did tender to Mr. Scott, Return-
ing Officer, her vote, under oath,
which Mr. Scott did refuse to
take and enregister. . . . That

the Petitioners saw with extreme —

concern that as the votes of the
Widows were not taken the re-
turn of Mr. Stuart is void, inas-
much as the free choice of all
the electors was
“known” (Petitioners to the House
of Assembly, Lower Canada,
1828.) as

The suffragettes of later years
got a bit more publicity, although

not much in Canada. But women -

. from coast .to coast fought in
‘more ways than one to gain the
wote.. °..

Similarly in labor battles, nore
fought harder than the women-
folk in Drumheller, in Nanaimo,
in Corbin. Women like the late
‘Becky Buhay and Annie Buller

_ organized the miners and lumber-

_ -workers. Mary Flanagan and Flo-
gence Custance were in the fore-

_ tries.

not made

ront of the free speech cam-
paigns. Effie Jones worked day

and night in the Hungry Thirties :

helping the unemployed.

The list is a long one—Helena
Gutteridge who led the suffragette

movement in B.C.; Judge Helen |

Gregory McGill who devoted a
lifetime to the struggle for wo-
men’s rights; Agnes MacPhail, the
first woman elected to parliament.

For the most part Canada’s
heroines have not been acclaimed.
But as women rise to their place
of equality the dim pages of his-
tory will come to life with their
message and inspiration. In the
time ahead Canadian women will

work and struggle just as women ~

have elsewhere to throw off the
yoke of foreign domination and
refashion their country as they
want it to be for their children
and themselves. :

In June, 1953, a tremendous
women’s conference was held in
Copenhagen attended by 1,990
representatives from. 67 coun-
‘What a wonderful sight
this would have been for those
women back in 1910 who met for
the first time in a woman’s inter-
national conference also in Cop-
enhagen and on March 8 pro-
claimed International Women’s
Day. That conference made his-
tory and for the 44 years since

then March 8 has been celebrated j

throughout the world.

The World Congress of Women
last year made history, too. Sev-
enteen of the 67 countries repre-
sented took part in a world as-
sembly of women for the first
time. Besides the national or-
ganizations of the Women’s In-
ternational Democratic Federa-
tion, many non-member organiza-

-tions sent representatives, such

as the International Cooperative
Women’s Guild, the Women’s In-
ternational League for Peace and
Freedom and the YWCA. —

A

Brazil, Canada, China, Germany,

USSR, United States . . . women
from most of the world’s great
lands came together to discuss
their, common problems and to
make concrete and practical deci-
sions. Peace, the wellbeing of
children, the rights of women;
these are at the heart of all wo-
men, in all lands. ;

In Canada, women have won
many basic rights before the law.
But they are meaningless with-
out conditions necessary to imple-
ment them. Women have the right
to work. But neither men nor

women can work when there are
no jobs. é

In some provinces, women have
the right to equal pay for equal
work. It is a step, but inadequate
as yet, and will enable women to
advance only as the strength of
the trade union movement com-
pels enforcement of the legisla-
tion. ; ; 4

Women have the right to enter
a profession and gradually the
number of professional women
is increasing. But there is no en-
couragement for women to enter
trades or professions and only a
few are financially able to do so.

Out of the 600-odd doctors in
Vancouver in 1951 only 38 were
women,

_Women have come a long way
since the early struggles for the
vote and for equal rights. But
the worst indictment of our sys-"
teri is that while claiming wo-
men’s role should be that of
mother and home-maker, there —
are no special provisions for

mothers and children.

There is no adequate pre-natal
care, no maternity leave or bene-
fits, few nursery schools and in
Vancouver only seven kinder-
sartens.

Family allowances are most in-
adequate. Billions are spent for
defense” but there is little for
the children, the most precious
wealth of mankind.

Is the picture too black? Not at
all. In the inspiring World Con-
gress of Women, delegates ex-
changed views and experiences.
In People’s China, the USSR and
the People’s Democracies, a new

aoe of world is coming into be-

Women have come into. their
Own in the Soviet Union, Thou-
sands of them are deputies, doc-
tors, lawyers, engineers, factory
Managers, collective farmers. And
at the same time they raise happy,
healthy families because all the
facilities are provided. They have
won their rights in practice as
well as before the law.

In People’s China, a transforma-
tion is taking place in the lives
of Chinese families. All the anti-
quated regulations and practices
Which subjugated Chinese women
for centuries have been swept
away and in their new freedom
the Chinese women are reaching
great heights and, as in the Soviet
Union and the New Democracies,

children are developing free from
fear.

Do Canadian women need great-
er encouragement? What a fine
future looms ahead. We shall
win our rights, our freedom and
security as the others have, What
a wealth of knowledge and experi-
ence to draw upon to help us
achieve our aims. It is for us to
unite, to plan, to act.

Together, Canadian women are
a powerful force on the march
towards progress.

“The future is bright.

|

TALIAN women and girls are
pouring into the trade unions
and over 1,200 of them recent-

Italian Working Women in
Florence. They represented
millions of women.

They produced a Working
Women’s Charter which will
be launched on International
Women’s Day, March 8. They
expect no fewer than 10,000
delegates.

The women spoke at Flor-

_in which many parts of Italy
continue to exist.
_A young, olive-picker came
from the. south, where wages
are rather less than 25 cents
a day. She described her life,
lived in a hovel shared with
farm animals, with one meal
a day of bread and soup. ~
But she told the conference
that thousands of young girls
for the first time in Italian
history are now determined to
put an end to these conditions.

Another delegate described

ly attended the Conference of —

ence of the feudal conditions:

Italian women draft charter

her factory, where 100 girls
live in under. conditions that
remind one of some ancient
reformatory. ‘

They are forced to wear
ankle-length black aprons, may
use no makeup and must work
in complete silence.

Their letters are censored
and if the contents are con-
sidered undesirable the letters
are withheld. :

“There is never enough to
eat,” she said. ‘Meat is served
once a week, and meals are:
eaten standing. Baths are per-
mitted — every three or four
months.”

In spite of everything, these —
girls had organized and got in
touch with 400 women workers _
at the same factory who live
out. Together they were fight-
ing for wage increases, and for
rights for those who live in.

A speaker from the famous
Fiat factory showed how the
employers there had tried to
use the women to help keep
the men in order.

‘had been sent back to the

Vittorio, world-renowned Ital- —

The management sent out
40,000 letters to the families
of Fiat workers, telling them ~
that any Fiat worker who went
on strike would be fired and
that it was in the women’s in-
terest to influence the men
against strikes.

‘Thousands of these letters

management with a note tell-
ing them that if the men struck
it was because they were not
paid enough to cover rent,
food, clothing and other neces-
Saries.

A main demand at the con-
ference was for equal pay for
equal work, and for an end of
discrimination against women
workers. 2

Summing up, Guiseppe di’

ian trade union leader, ex- —
claimed: :
“Tremble, you employers!
Take a look at all these wo-
men, for if you don’t the day
will dawn when they will
come and put a noose around
your neck.” Ae :