Toronto program hosts 800 By JACKIE GREATBATCH TORONTO — Approximately 800 women and men attended the International Women’s Day educational program at City Hall on March 8. As the main feature of overall celebrations, which also included a cultural program on the night of March 7 and a wrap up dance on Saturday night, the educational session was a great success. Its organ- izers can be congratulated on a job well done. Over 50 individuals and organ- izations sponsored the March 8 -events, including women’s groups, labor unions, political parties (NDP and CPC), educa- tional organizations, student councils, ethnic groups, and others. Toronto City Council gave the City Hall for use and Mayor David Crombie proclaimed . 1975 as International Women’s Year, and March 8 as _ International Women’s Day in Toronto. Progressive Resolutions The program consisted of nine workshops, with a general as- sembly in which reports and re- solutions from each workshop were heard. The resolutions were sent to both the provincial and federal governments, and there about 100 in all. Workshops covered a wide range of issues affecting women, such as women’s sexuality and the criminal law; housework and the economy; women, peace and national liberation; office work- ers; professional women; women in manufacturing and service industries and women in the labor reserve. The resolutions which came out of the workshops ‘illustrated the growing awareness of wo- men in all sectors of the econo- my, not only to their own op- , but to the overall ex- ploitation of the working class in our society. They covered. everything from the repeal of abortion law 251 from the Cri- minal Code and making abortion available on demand, to equal access to retraining programs; from a demand for the roll-back of prices to demands that Can- ada withdraw from NATO and NORAD; from the raising of the minimum wage to $3.50 an hour - to a recommendation to join with other concerned bodies to make the elimination of poverty a major issue in the upcoming provincial elections. Justice in Marriage: Family and Property Law Most people came to this workshop expecting a session on the discriminatory family. pro- perty laws as they affect middle- class women. But the meeting’s organizers chose to focus the workshop on the specific prob- lems low-income, native, immig- rant and welfare mothers face during and after a marriage break-up. Four resource people covered the topics; Celeste Frame, repre- senting the Ontario Metis and Non-status Indian Association; Mary Hogan, a lawyer from Parkdale Community services, who spoke on the problems of low-income women; YWCA worker, Rita Mickland; and Anna Albero, speaking about im- migrant women in Canada. One of the greatest discrimin- atory laws against Indian wo- men is that if they marry any- one other than a registered In- dian, they status. In Canada there are 24,000 registered Indians, and 35,000 Metis and non-status Indians. Thus, the majority of native women facing the problems of marriage break-ups are those who do not have access to the few benefits provided under the Indian Act, but who still suffer the racism” and oppression of native peoples. European colonization of Can- ada changed the basic structure of native peoples’ societies, and one of these changes was the creation of a power structure lose their Indian - based on male chiefs, and the - destruction of the social struc- ture. Originally women in na- tive societies held positions of power due to their central posi- tion in the food supply process. Now all legislation is directed to keep women in a secondary po- sition in Indian society. 3 The Ontario Metis and non- status Indian Association is en- couraging women to get involv- ed in decision making processes and the fight for native rights. One of its programs is helping to fund post-secondary educa- tion programs, and the vast ma- jority of Metis and non-status Indians participating in the course are women. Mary Hogan, who councils low-income women, criticized re- cent marriage property reforms being discussed. They are focus- ed on the middle-class, she said, and disregard the fact that low- income women have no pro- perty. When their marriages break up it becomes a matter of survival for themselves and their children. Low-income women basically have no money, they are often evicted from their home because they can’t pay rent, and furtniture and other possessions are often reclaimed. There is no formal type of as- sistance to help such women through the emergency, and with daycare facilities lacking, and no job training, they cannot get jobs. With welfare payments of $200-300 a month for a single support mother with three or four children, she is forced to live in poverty. The Children’s Aid Society performs a. hostile role, with constant harrassment of the mother and threats to re- move her children. Retraining programs for single support mo- thers are virtually non-existent, and the salaries unskilled wo- men earn do not justify the effort. Be: Hogan feels there must be transitional hostels for low-in- come women going through mar- riage break-ups where they can stay until welfare payments come ‘through and they find a decent home, and where they can leave their children while they look for a job and a home. Universal free daycare services are a must if low-income single support mothers are able to get decent ‘care for their children, and better educational and re- training programs tailored to the needs of single support mothers must be made available. Chil- dren’s Aid should play a suppor- tive role to these women which it now threatens, and when thinking about reforms for wo- men in marriage property laws, low-income’ women must be taken into account. Few Men Perhaps the most unsuccessful thing about the program was the noticably low turnout of men from trade unions and other pro- gressive movements. Acknowl- edging the fact that trade unions and other progressive organiza- ~ tions recognize women’s equal- ity as a necessity for the end of exploitation of the working class as a whole, it appears that many men of these organizations have not altogether been reliev- ed-of their tokenist attitude tow- ard the struggle of women for equal rights. INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY IN WINNIPEG Mayor Stephen Juba proclaims March 8, International Women’s Day as an important highlight of International - Women’s Year, marked in Winnipeg by the Congress of Canadian Women at the R. B. Russell School on Sunday, March 9. Present at the proclamation is Ann Thorne, sec- retary and Vera Weremiuk, treasurer of the Winnipeg chap- ter of the CCW, together with Mayor Juba. ‘rose, donated ‘by the Hamilton Labour Council, United Electr - in the trade union movement; the plight of Chilean women; Hamilton Women’s Day first in many years | 2 By MARION TAGGART HAMILTON — International Women’s Day was celebrated he? ‘ for the first time in many years on Sunday, March 9. More th@ 120 people gathered at the Steelworkers Centre. Organized by | committee made up of women’s organizations, the meeting broug? to light the problems facing women in our society. On entering the hall, each women was presented with a Workers, CUPE, Teamsters Union and Local 1005 of the St workers. Behind the speakers on the podium were many m0. flowers. Greetings were given by Hugh Usher, president of Hamilton and District Labour Council. The meeting was chaired by Nancy MacDonald, an active m ber of CUPE and the Communist Party of Canada. It took form of a panel discussion which dealt with the issues of wo and the law; daycare; equal pay for work of equal value; wo employment and poverty; and peace. A resolution, passed unanimously, urged Canada to get ou NORAD. A telegram signed by those present was sent to the ister of External Affairs demanding the immediate release of w0! political prisoners in the tortured country of Chile. The Committee for International Women’s Day has pledged continue to celebrate March 8 in Hamilton. Just before the m ing’s conclusion, eight-year old Jill Greenwood recited a poem tinent to women. The meeting concluded with the panel clasp. hands and singing Solidarity Forever with the audience: quic joining in. .