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THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

WIVES WHAT ARE THEY WORTH?

By
THELMA CARTWRIGHT

Can you put a price on the
work a woman does in look-
ing after her home and hus-
band? How much should she
get for ironing a shirt? Bath-
ing the baby? Kissing away
the tears of a three-year-old
who’s fallen and scraped his
knee? Like most housewives
there are some days when I
feel that no amount — net
even a king’s ransom—could
compensate for the trials and
tribulations of those times
when everything goes wrong.

BEST JOB

On the other hand there’s
the occasional day — and
let's admit that it’s very
occasional — when I feel that
my job is the best in the
world, and I wouldn’t accept
remuneration for it even if
it were offered, which has

» always been unlikely up until

the present. Now, however,
Mrs. Grace MacInnis, MP for
Vancouver - Kingsway, has
actually proposed that house-
wives, those unsung heroines,
should be paid by a grateful
society for the long hours and
poor working conditions that,
up to now, they’ve tolerated
only out of love.

HEADLINES

I doubt if there’s a news-
paper in the country.that
didn’t carry banner headlines
about Mrs. MacInnis’ sugges-
tion.
headlines there was a note of
scepticism in the small print.
The idea of paying house-

just can’t be taken seriously.

I happen to think that it
ean be taken seriously but
only if two points are cleared
up now. Why’do women go
out to work in the first place
and what advantages would
_there be in paying them to
| stay home?
people who
that women

+« go out to work to widen their

f

horizons, to add interest to
their lives, even to improve
‘their minds. It never seems

* to occur to them that a great

nhumhb

of women go out to
for one reason and one
alone. They go out to
< to earn money. And
S wrong with that? Men
been doing it for cen-
| But if we assume that
numbers of women
only for money it seems
believe that they
home if they were

wives seems so far out that it .

Now the second point about
the advantages of encourag-
ing more women to stay home
brings up the whole tired and
overworked question of the
special needs of working wo-
men. Where are the day
nurseries and creches that we
so badly need and have need-
ed for the past ten years and
longer? Where are the longer
lunch periods and special]
emergency leaves for working
mothers that have been ad-
vocated by groups like the In-
ternational Labor Organiza-
tion for decades?

If our communities were to
provide even one-tenth of the
facilities needed to cover
these special needs the cost
would run into millions of
dollars. If, as I’ve suggested,
there are many working
mothers who would really
rather stay home if they could
afford it, then we begin to
see some of the advantages
in having them do so.

STAY HOME

Of course this doesn’t mean
that industry or business will
suddenly, overnight, find
themselves without any wo-
men employees. Nor does it
mean that facilities for work-
ing mothers, even if their
numbers decrease, ought not
to be provided. Even though

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I believe many women might
prefer to stay home if they
could rely on some sort of
regular income, there will al-
ways be many others who
would rather go out to work.
And whether they do this be-
cause they are really dedi-
cated to their work or ‘simply
because they don’t like stay-

‘ing home, no one is going to

question their right to do as
they please. :

LIKE MONEY

Women like to have money
of their own and the house-
wife is no exception. By pay-
ing her a regular monthly
sum Government could show
the housewife that her role in
society is appreciated. In-
stead of penalizing the wo-
man who stays home with
her family such a. scheme
would, for the first time, give
her a real alternative to go-
ing out to work. Because,
let’s face it, many women
have really no choice but to
work if they want to main-
tain any sort of reasonable
standard of living.

Arguing the case as to why
such a scheme might be a
good idea is quite a different
thing from working out how
it would operate. For ex-
ample, would the efficient
wife and mother be paid

_ more than a sloppy house-

keeper? Would the duties in-

BRITISH COLUMBIA

PHONE
723-5641

volved in looking after a six
room house warrant a larger
income than those of a four
room apartment?

The Ottawa Journal work-
ed out a rough estimate as to
how much a housewife is
worth at current rates of pay
for her various roles as maid,
cook, chauffeur, etc. This
sort of breakdown always em-
barrasses me since I’m sure
I’d never be able to get a job
as a maid and anyone who
hired me as cook would re-
gret it after the first mouth-
ful.

However, the Ottawa Jour-
nal estimates that, for a seven
day week, the housewife
ought to be getting about $140
which works out to something
like $560 a month. But be-
fore you rush off to resign
and go home to wait for your
cheques to arrive remember
that, at the moment, this is
just a suggestion. Whether it
ever becomes a fact is another
matter. But even if it does,
one thing is certain. No house-
wife and mother worth her
salt will ever get what she’s
really worth.

1-80 SICK LIST

Ed Linder, Financial Secretary of
Local 1-80 IWA, visited patients in the
following hospitals and _ distributed
candy, cigarettes and copies of the
Western Canadian Lumber Worker.

CHEMAINUS HOSPITAL

Giovinni Pagarut, Chemainus; Mrs.
Rose Brooks, Crofton; Mrs. James E.
Buckner, Chemainus; Arthur Milligan,
RR 2, Nanaimo.

LADYSMITH HOSPITAL

Clem Ingram, Ladysmith; Sam
Douglas, 4th Avenue, Ladysmith; Mrs.
Mack Erickson, Ladysmith; Mrs. Wil-
liam Defty, Comox; Mrs. W. Y.
Wright, RR 2, Ladysmith.

~KING’S DAUGHTERS

Mrs. Abel Joe, Trunk Road, Dun-
can; Mrs. Carol Patterson, Honey-
moon Bay; Mrs. Syd Smith, Port
Renfrew; Mrs. Charles Cochrane, St.

Julian St., Ouncan; Mrs. Darshan,
Mangat; Mrs. Raspal Sekhon, Lake
Cowichan; Mrs. Amar Kaur, Lake

Cowichan; Mrs. Charlene Livingstone,
Lake Cowichan; Joseph Gravelle,
Lake Cowichan; Jack Cushman, Beech
Ave., Duncan; Hendrik Wikkerink,
Cobble Hill; David Aitken, Cobble
Hill; William Ross, Youbou; Robert
Hastings, Duncan; James Long, Cay-
cuse Beach, Honeymoon Bay.

NANAIMO GENERAL

Allan Graham, Cassidy; Frank
Wamuss, Milton, Nanaimo; J. F.
Francis, Qualicum Beach.

Financial Secretary Ed Linder of
Local 1-80 IWA visited the following
patients in the Nanaimo General
Hospital February 18, and distributed
candy, cigarettes and copies of the
Western Canadian Lumber Worker.

Mr. Marcel Beuselinck, Parksville;
Mr. Irvine Pointe, Shoreline St., Na-

naimo; O..Hollander, Langley; Mr.
Doug Welch, Campbell River; Mr.
George Parker, Kennedy. St., Nana-

imo; Mr Leo Harris, Lantzville, Mr.
Peter Asdal, Victoria Rd., Nanaimo.

JOB AID

OTTAWA — The federal
Labor Department has put
into effect its new manpower
mobility program providing
financial aid to unemployed
workers who wish to move to
other areas where jobs are
available.

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