| How will automation

affect housewives?

By EILEEN ROBINS

I took part recently in a panel
discussion which hadasits theme:
*Should Married Women Work?”

-I began my remarks at that dis-
cussion by saying that I thought
we were out-of-date. Itisnot now
a question of whether or not mar-
ried women should work: itis a
question of how best to deal with
a situation in which married
‘women have decided that they
will, despite all circumstances,
work,

Society, I think, is finally ac-
_Cepting the concept of equality
of women, married or single.

It is ironic that at the very time

when women have achieved the

right of equality of opportunity,

we face only an equality of prob-

lems, é

For, let us make no mistake
about it, the age of automation
brings with it problems for all
the workers of Canada, men and
women, married and single, It
brings problems, too, for the non-
workers, who will one day want
to work from choice or necess-
ity,

Among these two groups, the
| Workers and the non-workers
_.Who would like to work, are
found most of the married women
in Canada today.

: The indirect effects of automa-
_ tion have already been felt by
= Some of us: husbands, brothers,
| Sons, fathers, have lost, or know
they will soon lose jobs to auto-
Mated machinery, Thus, for some
of us, the age of automation has
already begun, and the problems
are with us now,

For others of us, it is our own
| obs which are in jeopardy, and
} Many more of us’ will soon join
| this group, For the work which

Women are best suited to do,
is precisely in those occupations
Which most easily lend them-
Selves to automation,

Sixty-four per cent of Canadian

_ Working women are employed in
Clerical, service or manufac-
turing work — areas where tech-
Nological advances have already
Made possible filing without help

of human hands, motels where,

One can register with the sole
aid of aclosed-circuit T.V.
_ Screen, and long lines of man-
Ufacturing machines which need
Neither male nor female to keep
them operating.

The future can only bring more
Of the same, So we shall face a
Parodoxical situation: automa-
tion in the home will continue,
at an ever-increasing pace, to
free women for jobs outside the
home; at the same time, auto-
Mation and cybernetics will
SPeedily diminish the number
Of jobs available to women,

I wonder if automation will

NDP Provincial Leader Rob-
 €rt Strachan told a meeting of
Party’s provincial council last
_ Weekend that “the party must
_ State its policy bluntly, that a
€w Democratic government
_ Would take over the telephone
System,”

The B,C, Telephone Co, also
Came under sharp fire at a meet-
Ng last week of the Kamloops
City council, The mayor and coun-
1 were not enthusiastic over a

succeed in reversing the trend
of recent times and put us women
where some people still think
we belong — in’our kitchens?

It doesn’t seem likely, because
in the home of the future, there
will be less and less kitchen and
general housework to be done,
For one thing, the home may be
located underground, because
there it will be less subject to
temperature changes, and may be
kept more free from dust and
dirt.

“Super” airconditioning sys-
tems will eliminate most natural
dust and dirt, but there will also
be a machine emitting waves
which will disperse dirt,

Our future kitchens (or those
of our children) will almost cer-
tainly have infra-red ray ovens,
which will cook prepared meals
in a matter of seconds, Moreover,
the meals will probably be sel-

ected, to suit the tastes and die- -

tary needs of the family, by a
home computer.

The computer will also tell
us when supplies of frozen and

_irradiated food are low. Shall

we then have to rush off to the
supermarket? No —all we’llhave
to do is to press buttons indicat-
ing what food we want rushed in
by special delivery: magnetic
conveyor, jet transport, autocar
or helicopter. .

A T.V. circuit will link all
rooms of the house, so that Baby
and Junior may be kept under
constant surveilance,

Dishwashing will be a thing
of the past, and clothes will be
made of synthetic materials
which really will needno ironing.

The housewives of the future
are obviously going to enjoy, in
the words of Doris Anderson,
Editor of “Chatelaine”, the true
age of emancipation from house-
hold drudgery.

But will they be truly emanci-
pated? Or will automation, push-
ing our civilization forward to
ever greater heights of progress,,.
thrust women backwards into
their traditional role as “the
second sex”?

I think not, In an age where
leisure will be for everyone, we
shall no longer be so concerned
about going “out” to work, We
shall see our equality with men
as self-evident, but like them,
we shall need to learn howto live
without work,

For in our new society, *non-
workers” will be the great maj-
ority.

And nobody, but nobody, will
play a more significant role than
the homemaker, For more than
ever before, home will be the
centre of man’s expanding univ-
erse,

—From Can. Packinghouse Worker,

Nov., 1964.

Phone takeover urged

proposed rate increase, The
company’s service was criticized
by Alderman Malcolm Grant,

Given the takeover of the phone
monopoly as an example of the
kind of policies the NDP should
pursue, Strachan told the pro-
vincial council the party must
develop hard-hitting policies and
state them bluntly, “In recent
years the party has tended to be
too soft spoken inits comments,”
he said,

We are pleased to announce a

VICTORY

1546 SUBS IN

City —552 subs;

Prov.—538 subs;
Grand Total —

COMPLETE BOX SCORE:
263 P/S Total—815

193 P/S Total—731

1546 subs in on 1500
Total New Subs = 150

A message to our readers:

Dear Friends:

Thank you one and all for a job well
done. To the many devoted press builders
and supporters who contributed hours o
their time, who drove countless miles and
used countless gallons of gasoline in collect-
ing old and new readers for our paper, we
say simply—Thank You. Your sincere dedi-
cation, your gratifying efforts prove once
again—fo friend and foe alike—that the
progressive labor press is truly deeply root-

ed among the people of B.C.

Together, we have won a great baftle.
It comes upon the heels of a previous vic-
tory last spring, when our efforts were
successful in raising the impressive sum of
$18,000 with which to keep our presses

running.

But even though the battle is behind us
the war rages on, because to keep operat-
ing the working class press in these days
of rising costs is a never ending process. In
December, in January and in every month
of the new year, subscriptions will be com-

ing up for renewal. If we are not to rapidly
lose the benefits achieved during our Cir-
culation Drive, these subs MUST be renewed

—on time.

We are now enfering into the 30th year
of continuous publication of the progressive
labor press in B.C. No other weekly labor
paper in the entire province can make that
proud statement. Soon, on the pages of the
PT, you will begin reading about some of
the plans being considered and prepara-

‘tions underway to mark this historic occa-

sion in a suitable manner.

But, in the meantime, the best 30th birth-
day present all of us can give to our paper
is to roll up an ever expanding circulation.
With your help, we know this will be done.:

Once again, thanks.

Provincial Press Committee
and PT Staff

Final Drive Results

GREATER VANCOUVER I VANCOUVER ISLAND
: Quotas - Achiev. Quotas Achi
CLUB 7 Club iey.
Subs P/S | Subs P/S|| Subs  P/S | Subs P/S
Bill Bennett 50 25 45 5 {| Cowichan 30 10 31 7
Broadway 60 15 62 =17 || Nanaimo 55 40 son 4
Frank Rogers 20 5 12 2 || Victoria 30 20:32 42.18
Georgia ~ 8 3 5 - Totals 180 101-2182 117
Kingsway 45 20 68 )
Niilo Makela 10 Zz 6 1
Point Grey 25 5 | 24 21] Haney-Map.-Rg. 15 o4-16 "3
Vanc. East 130 40 95 58 Siicsion 10 2 9 =
South Vanc. 45 20 a25.19 Totals 25 221: 25 3
Victory Square 35 10 44 13
North Burnaby 40 © 10 40 13
Edmonds eee te OKANAGAN
North Shore 50 20 68 23 Kamloops 15 = 12
City Misc. 10__100_{ 12 105 |! Notch Hill 15 21 45: 48
Totals 583 295 {552 263 || Vernon 20 7 is. oe
PROVINCIAL GENERAL Totals 50 9 42 16
Fernie-Michel 10 2 5 _
Powell River 25 _ 28 _ DELTA
Sointula 15 _ 12 —
Steveston 5 - 1 - i set ‘ z : 1¢ cae
Trail-Rossland 45 JO Alaa HGR ay ty, wi cer on:
-Correspon. 25 5 21 5 4 : =
eaoweMict: 30 5 36 7 ee Surrey = aA 22 2
Totals po see ee Totals 155 MAY Cae t
VANCOUVER ISLAND ;
Alberni = 330 25. | 31° 29 Prov. Totals 565 194} 538 193
Campbell River 10 Sa ae ee City Totals 583 295| 552 263
Cumberland = 15 STE fa see Gr'd Totals1148 48911090 456

December 11, 1964—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 11