MOU tr nt Tn

~ WOMEN'S

news and views

i
WILE AM Cc Mon ee

PLANNED FOR JUNE

World Congress of Women
to be held in Copenhagen

A WORLD Congress'of Women,
called by the Women’s Interna-
tional Democratic Federation, is to
be held at Copenhagen, Denmark,
i June, it is announced by Marie-
Claude Vaillant Couturier, WIDF
eneral secretary.

Purpose of the congress, as set
Sut in the call adopted by the
F council in December, is:

..’. Lo win and defend: the pol-
itical, economic and social rights
of women.

To protect

children and

homes

NATIONAL CAMPAIGN

V~ To secure a peaceful world.

“The dearest wish of all women
is to live in peace and friendship
with all the peoples of the world,”
states the call.

“

- Women everywhere are

seeing all their hopes for the

future endangered, as war pre-

parations increase and military
bases are set up in many countries.
For millions of families the arms
drive is bringing with it a lower
standard of living, unemployment
and poverty.” ~

Health insurance scheme

aim of CCW

oe CONGRESS of Canadian
. °men is launching a crusade for
ational health insurance in the
Con of ‘a country-wide petition,
Re National headquarters in To-
ay announced this week. From
Cow May members of the
a will go door-to-door can-
ete with petition forms to ob-
Signatures.

pute decision to fight for a prop-
: €alth plan was reached at the
Ird national conference of the
a held in Toronto last October,
Na resolution was unanimous-
eee requesting Ottawa to en-
a & health plan to “provide for
quate medical, surgical, optical,

petition

psychopathic and denta] treatment,
with appropriate hospital and
nursing care for all who need such
services.”

The conference went on record
“to launch a national crusade for
such a health plan with the objec-
tive of committing all parties and
candidates for federal office to
implement such a plan.”

During the petition drive CCW
chapters in all cities and towns will
organize meetings, conferences
and ‘social gatherings to discuss
and debate on the subjéct of health
insurance. . Every possible means
will be used to arouse public inter-
est in the campaign.

ONE WORKING WOMAN'S DAY

Restaurant trade third largest fpf}

Dancer officer of new organization

Secretary of the newly-formed Negro Citizens League in Vancouver is Janet Curtis, talented city

dancer and singer.
Under The Stars production.

Here she is shown (at right) in a scene from Finian’s. Rainbow, successful 1952 Theatre
Purpose of the new organization is to combat racial discrimination.

A letter

was sent to Attorney-General Robert Bonner from the league’s first meeting asking him to review the

evidence in the: Clemens case.

employer of women, pays least

Guts: MARY SMITHS day
Roivie HOt, her real name, of
ing ae begins at six in the morn-
ite 4 ends at midnight, and of
ove 8 hours she is on her feet
Smith © Most of the time. Mrs,
1S a restaurant worker who
help support ther three
age boys because her hus-
can work for short periods
being a chronic invalid.
e typical day sees Mrs. Smith
ting yauerns breakfast antl get-
before € children ready for school
seven-t} she’ catches her bus at
ficial urty. Her work day of-
ing pea re at eight in the morn-
and } sabe job of washing dishes
tired i Ping the cook finds her
«, Out by four in the afternoon.
ant sg waitresses and restaur-
miles panere have to run more
People » a day’s work than most
te ae run in a month,” she
of fang here’s a constant feeling
ae Ing to rush to keep up to
ustomers, and the piles of

dirty 4;
Y dishes
malley, never seem to get any

“Hay
those b ¥8

ealy,

© you tried lifting one of
_ eee loaded with dishes?
5 Only way I get through
eg without going crazy is
like i, of all the nice things I'd
trip 0 — you know, go for a

round the world or just lie

in the hot sun on a nice sunny~

beach some place.”
* * *

AND SO Mrs. Smith finishes her
day’s work just in time to get to
the store and do her shopping.
Usually she has to stand on the bus
going home, but there’s no time to
sit down and rest when she does
get home. The boys are hungry
for their dinner and full of the
day’s happenings at school.

Her sons are pretty good at do-
ing their jobs, but théy’re only
normal and forget to clean up the
basement or chop up. some kind-
ling, but they do have to wash the

. dishes.

However, there’s the housework
to do and an old house always
seems harder to keep clean. Or
maybe there’s a pile of ironing
waiting to be tackled or baking to
be done. As Mrs. Smith says:

“Harry, my husband. is pretty
good around the house when he
feels well but the doctor says he
has to have lots of rest and good
food. I don’t let on how tired I
feel because I know he worries
about me having to work so hard
and not being able to do his share.

“J only wish 1 could find an

easier job, but I’m not trained for
anything, and anyway I’m over
forty now and too old for anything
else.”

* * *

MRS. SMITH IS just one of
many in British Columbia’s cater-
ing trade, the trade which employs
the third largest number of wo-
men in our province.

There are nearly 11,000 women
employed in the hotel and restaur-
ant business whose average wage
is only $24 a week, the lowest
average wage of all the -occupa-
tions for women. And it’s strenu-
ous work, for conditions in many
of the smaller cafes are poor, with
the waitress having to eat her

-lunch on the run, and often having

to substitute as cook and dish-
washer too,

When the girls working for a
wellknown restaurant chain in
Vancouver recently tried to organ-
ize, those who signed up were put
on part time and new girls hired,
so the attempt to unionize these

establishments failed. A real or-_

ganizing job in the trade is long
overdue to give Mrs. Smith and
hundreds like her the wages and
conditions they earn but have yet
to get.

A LETTER written to Mrs.
Olive Wilkinson of this city by
Nadezhda Khimach, who acted as
hostess to Mrs, Wilkinson and
other members of the Canadian
deelgation that toured the USSR
following the International Con-
gress in Defense of Children at
Vienna last year, tells somewhat
belatedly of New Year in the
Soviet Union:

“School children have vacations
in our country from January 1 to
10,” writes Nadezhda Khimach.
“ .. . Vacations begin on New
Year’s Eve and everywhere, in
homes, gn the streets, in Young
Pioneer palaces and clubs you will
now see gaily decorated and light-
ed trees.

“During these holidays there are
special parties for children with
entertainers, fancy dress_ balls,
bazaars of toys and books for
children. _ There are also parties
for children to meet eminent writ-
ers, actors, scientists, stakhanovite
workers from plants, factories and
collective farms.

“All stadiums, skating rinks,
theatres and ‘cinemas are free to
the children during vacations. And
at the New Year the trade unions
give presents to the children . . .”

* * *

THE QUESTION of raising

family allowances, as compaigned

for by the Congress of Canadian
Women, came up in the House of
Commons this week. A CCF mem-
ber asked that the allowances be
raised by 60 percent, pointing out
that since the inception of the
scheme in 1945 the cost of living
had nearly doubled.

Health Minister Paul Martin
spoke against such a scheme and
wept crocodile tears for the poor
taxpayers who would have to foot
the bill should such a measure be
taken, but he did say that he would
be more receptive-to the idea of
raising the age limit from 16 to 18.

Martin doesn’t do much weeping
over the fact that half our tax dol-
lar goes for guns and bombs, and

. he prefers to forget that the coun-

try’s old age pension bill now is
being paid for on a. contributory
plan, although the worker does
not see such a deduction listed on
his pay envelope. Nor does Mar-
tin want to see that such a meas-
ure would put millions of dollars
more spending money in the pock-
ets of those who need it most.

Why don’t you write your MP
today asking him to quit playing
the horses and start doing some-
thing for the families whose wel-
fare is the first concern of the gov-
ernment — except when it means
doing something more than mak-
ing speeches.—B.G.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JANUARY 23, 1953 — PAGE 11