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Peace a student issue

Making campuses nuclear weapons free zones; halting mili-
tary related research; including peace courses in the cur-
riculum are some of the ways students can bring peace into
the schools.

Canadian students are becoming increasingly involved in the
campaign against militarism and the nuclear arms race, exempli-
fied by their growing activism in the Refuse the Cruise move-
ment.

Student organizers at every level, from the Canadian Fed-
eration of Students (CFS), to individual campus peace groups
have been noticeably active in mobilizing for the massive peace
demonstrations which have taken place.across Canada during the
past two years.

Students at the University of Winnipeg have declared their
campus a nuclear weapons free zone. At the University of Toron-
to, the Graduate Student’s Union placed the issue- of Cruise
missile testing on its annual election ballot, where the Cruise was
rejected by a wide margin. Such initiatives are widespread:
around the country, student peace groups are joining municipal
coalitions, organizing forums, screening films, setting up litera-
ture tables and exposing the role of post-secondary education in
aiding and abetting the arms race.

Now, as the school year begins, students will have to redouble
their efforts if Cruise missile testing is to be halted, and the
dangers of intensified Cold War averted.

CFS Anti-Cruise

At its national conference last November, the CFS passed a
resolution calling for removal of U.S.-controlled nuclear weap-
ons from Canadian soil and demanding a ban on Cruise missile
flight testing in Canada. CFS also demanded a prohibition on the
manufacture of nuclear weapons components in this country.

One provincial student federation — CFS-Ontario — recently
sponsored a two-day ‘Students for Peace and Disarmament’’
conference at the University of Toronto. The meeting examined a
range of peace issues, relating them to the post-secondary com-
munity. Among the topics discussed:

e the relationship between military spending, education cut-
backs and youth unemployment.

e military-related research being conducted on campuses.

e inclusion of peace studies in post-secondary curricula.

e nuclear energy and the arms-race.

e Canada’s involvement in NATO and NORAD.

The Ontario conference wound up with an action-oriented
workshop, aimed at organizing efforts for the many local October
22 rallies against Cruise missile testing.

There is a general consensus among student peace activists that

the fight to Refuse the Cruise is the major contribution that
Canadians can make tothe struggle for nuclear disarmamentat this
time.
As has been frequently pointed out, the Cruise is a weapon that
fundamentally alters the balance-of-power on our fragile globe.
Cruise missiles are cheap to produce, easily portable and difficult
to detect. It is a first-strike capable weapon, due to its radar-
evading characteristics, and it is destined to be deployed on
trucks, bombers, ships and submarines. The United States will
build and deploy up to 9,000 Cruise missiles within the next three
years. It is clear that Canadians must take a stand, to absolutely
rule out any Canadian involvement in the development and use of
the Cruise missile.

We’re 60 years
young an

fighting harder
then ever

For a say

in your future
join the
Young Communist League

ee ed

For information: YCL, 24 Cecil Street, Toronto N5T 1N2

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 28, 1983—Page 8

A right or an afterthought

women in higher education

For women attempting to acquire a quality
post-secondary education there are two barriers
that often frustrate their best efforts. The first of
these is the economic discrimination to which all
women are subject. The second is amore complex
network of social attitudes and practices which
create hindrances for women at almost every turn
on the road to self-advancement.

Economic Barriers

Economically women in Canada have always
been at a disadvantage. The wage gap between
men and women, which was narrowing in the

“ seventies, is widening again. Women earn 55 to 60

cents for every dollar a man makes. With tuition
fees on the rise across Canada and inflation steady
it is easy to see that a lower wage severely limits a
woman’s opportunity to attend higher education.
It is harder for a woman to get a good job and
save money to pay for her educational costs. It’s
harder to get a loan from the government because
of both the summer savings criteria and in-
dependence criteria, especially for married women
who end up dependent on a perhaps willing hus-
band to pay for most of her educational costs. It is
harder for a woman to pay back her loan on lower
wages and less job security.
Low cost, quality daycare is extremely difficult
for the woman student to find, particularly if she
would like to find it on or near campus. When
daycare is available its quality is often question-
able. Like most working women, female students
find that they are expected to not only put in a full

day of studies but also come home and do house- _

work. This double work load creates incredible

ra beg
deltion of

srudenty.

ss

ies.

Women facing the double burden in education.

obstacles which many women surprisingly manage
to juggle but definitely shouldn’t have to.

Special services must be provided for women to
ensure that they are not in any way disadvantaged
from participating in education and productive
labor.

The traditional image of woman as wife and
homemaker rather than as full participant in the
work world extends its influence to other areas as
well. The social barriers that women face in attend-
ing higher education can often be as devastating as
the economic barriers.

Women are concentrated in fields like nursing,
secretarial and clerical jobs, service professions
and the non-technical trades. In part this is due to
the ideas society has of women and what type of
jobs are appropriate to them and strongly affects
the choices girls and women make in their educa-
tional career.

Social Barriers

Girls are often systematically streamed into
education which is thought to be useful for them —
courses like cooking and typing as opposed to car-
pentry and mathematics. This not only means that
girls end up with traditional skills but also that their
options for further education are sharply limited by
their secondary school education. The types of
jobs these traditional skills lead to are invariably
low pay and low status. Hence we can see that girls
are not even off to the same start as boys.

Our education system almost completely ignores
the contribution that women have made to our
society. The tremendous role that working women,
women scientists, women doctors, tradeswomen
etc. have played in developing Canada is simply
not acknowledged. These omissions are not only
insulting, demeaning and incorrect, they also play
a role in deterring girls from choosing non-tradi-
tional training and jobs.

Sexual Harassment

A growing problem on Canadian campuses is
that of sexual harassment (unwanted and unsol-
icited sexual attention). Women have been led to
believe that such attention is either supposed to be

flattering or the woman’s own fault. In fact such

harassment from professors and other students

serves to belittle women’s attempts to be taken

seriously in their chosen field and indicates that
many males still prefer to relate to women only in@
threateningly sexual manner rather than as equals.

The student movement must unite with the w0-
men’s movement, trade union movement
other organizations active on women’s issues t0
make its demands become a reality.

The Communist Party and the Young Commu-
nist League will continue to support the principle
of full equality for women in all aspects of post
secondary education.

Socialist alternative in education

The following is extracted from
an article entitled ‘Structure and
aims of the GDR’s Educational
system.”’ It was written by the
Free German Youth (FDJ) of the
German Democratic Republic.

Our integrated socialist educa-
tion system is a result of the long
struggle of the working class and
its allies to democratize the
educational system of the GDR.

Its guiding principle is that
everyone should be able to go on
to the next higher level of the
educational system. As far as the
higher educational institutions are
concerned, the best and most
capable candidates are selected
after the social structure of the
population has been duly taken
into consideration.

The integrated socialist educa-
tion system in the GDR is a great
achievement of socialism. The
GDR’s Youth Act is based on this
achievement and guarante
German youth many rights and
privileges.

Since its founding, the Free
German Youth (FDJ) has striven

to implement the constitutionally
guaranteed right of every young
citizen to free and equal access to
higher education. In particular
this involves the abolition of the
social bases of educational
privilege and guaranteeing that, in
terms of material conditions,
every young person shall have the
opportunity to study. Today,
more than 50 per cent of all post-
secondary students are workers’
or farmers’ children..

In order to enable students to
take their place in society as truly
highly qualified specialists, the
FDJ is committed to:

e promoting a still higher quality
of education in the social
sciences;

e increasing the extent to which
studies are related to practice:

e creating a close relationship be-
tween students and the working
class and acquainting the former
with the day-to-day problems of
socialist development; and

e giving students an Opportunity
to participate in research.

The FDI is making active use f
its right to have a say in all dé
cisions taken by the administra
tions of the universities
colleges.

The living conditions of st¥:
dents have been further improv!
during the last few years.
total cost of studies is financed bY
the state, irrespective of the st
dents’ social background. Moré
over, more than 80 per cent I

ceive grants. Most students live # :

hostels where rents have bf
mained stable at six to eight ag
cent of the grants. The FDJ 4
helps to support young mars h
students and single students w!"
children.

University | and college
graduates have secure prospe?™
in the GDR. The long-term pla?
drawn up by the state conce!! ai
the provision of places at uml
sities and colleges in accordance
with demands for highly qualifi¢
Specialists, guarantee
graduate a job in accordance
his or her qualifications.

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