omen in the Postwar World

Dy
a

By providing women with
after the war,

equal opportunities to work in industry
if they wish, the home will be strengthened and
e “women enabled to play a greater part in constructing the peace.

ti

: 3 By Kay Gregory

lds

This is the question thousands

of men and women are asking today and the answer Will be found in the same way we
fore during the war.

eS haagang

7 MILLION women (18 7064) ARE WORKING I BRITAIN
(48% OF TOTAL FEMALE POPULATION OF THESE AGES) :
bnded to. their country’s need and took jobs in its new war industries. Unless their E 2 0
Wenand for equal treatment is considered now and provision made for it in the plans A A ;
nl reconstruction, the insidious idea that women now in industry should go “back to ae “ o a :

'@ home’’ can become the cause of discontent and disunity and constitute a danger to

es lanada now has approximate-
i P00,000 women=—one in four
ny
© industry. Gallup polls have
“Pirated that a large propor-
ti of them will want to con-
me in their present ‘work,
jeer from need or preferment,
z n hostilities cease. ae
“any of them were house-
Wis and have families to care
= Many others were domes-
servants who rightly will re-
to go back to drudgery in
®eone else’s Idtchen for a
yee10n of the wages they are
* earnins.. Many more are
icemen’s Wives who may be
#s the sole support of their
lies. :
‘hor must champion their
wa> and give them an oppor-
ae y to continue working after
h var. :

@ :
} unfortunate that a big per-

id are not active partici-
3 in trade union life. With
w exceptions, while they

:losed shop, the affairs and
ities of the trade unions
not appealed sufficiently
ir interest to encourage
to attend meetings resu-
mm to become a real force in
a ng labor movement. And
here that the danger lies.
men can contribute a lot
2 labor movement. They
‘esh im the industrial world

@ ing a new outlook, new

40 Many narrow restric-
They are very sensitive
crimination and given the
m \tagement they can play
mg militant role’ in the
to carry through labor’s
ugns. z 4
or is far behind in its at-

ntage of women now em-_

be members of the union ~

rd

titude on the postwar role of
women. There is still a linger-
ing feeling that, Gallup polis
to the contrary, women will so
back to their housework after
the war. We are still apt to
ignore all the siens which point
out, whether we believe it or not
women are not, going to quit
industrial life. ‘

This attitude is tied up with
the cynical view that a terrible
depression will follow this war
as it did the last and that women
wall have to quit work because
‘there will not be enough jobs to
go around. But the last depres-
Sion proved the fallacy of this
as a remedy because, as Inter
national Tabor Office facts

- Show, “unemployment increased

the number of applicants for

employment within the family
cirele.” E :
Furthermore, the Wnit ed

States Women’s Bureau direc-
tor, Mary Anderson, points out
that “for us again to limit pro-
duction (and consequently em-
ployment) as we did in our pre-
War economy would be nothing
short of disastrous.”

- hinges. the full Significance of

lithe battlefronts and in industry women today ace
ting for victory. Will they be given the opportun-
"to help in building the Ppeacer

postwar employment. Tt must
not be-a question of who has
priority for jobs, but that work

must be available for all who -

need it—soldiers and workers,
men and women.

AN OTHER very prevalent idea

is that if women continue to
work this will mean the collapse
of the home. Well-meaning peo-
ple point to the increase in ju-
venile delinquency, the higher
divorce rate of these War years
and predict a gloomy future.
And there are others, of course,

who seem to be more concerned

Qn this -

with the lack of domestic seryv-

ants at low wages.

Tt all depends on what is
meant by the home, whether an
establishment based on economic
Security, or a general abstract

conception removed from the-

problems of housing, of educa_
tion, and of the daily difficulties
that face many housewives so
eccupiel with menial monotonous
tasks that they have no inclina-
tion to regard home other than
a place in which the family must
eat and sleep, and which they:
are forever cleaning up.

Ts this the home for which
our women must leave their jobs

in industry to preserve at ali
costs ?

isn’t there rather another
concept of a home, changing as
life itself has changed, gradual_
ly evolving through the cen-
turies to offer the people now a
nenen fuller ideal of family

e?

HIS conception of the home
is as a place where a man
and woman can have leisure to-

gether with their children to
enjoy the culture of the world,
a place to come back to after
certain specified hours of con-
genial work that is equipped
with all that science can offer in
labor-saving, health-promoting
devices. The idea that thou-
Sands of individual families
must do their individual laundry,
cook their dinners on thousands
of separate stoves,
nurses and teachers to care for
one single family, is gradually
*being outmoded by -the exigen-
cies of wartime living.

War workers in England
found that life was much easier
when they established com-_
munal kitchens, laundries, child
care centers, nurseries, shopping
services, so that a woman could
go home to rest when her day
at the factory was done With-
out having to worry about do-
ing the week’s shopping, or the
washing, or cooking a dinner for
a family over a hot stove after
a day. tending a foundry furnace.

Henry Kaiser, while mainly
concerned with obtaining more
efficiency and Speed from his
workers to increase production
for war, also provided them with
a better home life. His plants
are equipped with day nurseries,
laundries and shopping centers |
where women can buy a fully
cooked meal to take home all
ready to serve. :

Unfortunately labor has not
always -provided the leadership
in helping women in these many
mundane problems. As with
Henry Kaiser, it often has been
the employer who first realized
the significance of millions of
employed women, who realized
that their special needs must be
catered to if they were to do

_all citizens.

3 MILLION MORE us. women worKers WOULD BE
NEEDED TO EQUAL BRITAIN'S PERCENTAGE

Me F1z:

their best work. But labor must
now take up the cudgels to see
that women’s rights are pro-
vided for when there is not the
Same driving urgency for their
Services.

WOMEN badly need the help

and encouragement of the
labor movement. More import-
ant, those of us who are already
part of the labor movement
must put forward a new concep-

' tion of their role and the place

of the Canadian home of the fu_
ture.

This conception will be a real
part of postwar plans, Since se-
curity in the peace and realiza~
tion of a fuller democracy can
only be obtained by justice to
On the standards
and conditions meted out to our
women workers will be based
the future standards of all work-
ers, Since if the one is lower it

. can be used as a club against

the other.

Full postwar employment is
not a fantastic dream. Produc-
tion ean be kept up at wartime

&

MEDIA DIVISION Ow:

heights if labor and capital have
a common interest, as they. now.
have, in maintaining it. In
the demand for consumer £oods,
in the new fields seience has
opened up in plastics, elec-
tronics, television, aircraft,
there is a tremendous potential
scope for the talents of male
and female workers.

Labor must begin to work
now for the postwar world.
must begin to take up the proh-
lems of women workers now in
industry as it fought for equal
pay for women ‘workers, to
champion ‘outspokenly their
right to continue -in jobs of
their own choice after the war
and to show, how this can and

. must be accomplished if the in=

terest and security of ali, peo-
ples are to be considered,

Further, labor must boldly
put forward a new conception
of Canadian life, a step ferward
to a higher eultural level where,
father, mother and children have
equal time and opportunity to
pursue their own interests with
aa a fuller’ and happier family

e.

employ -

“had achieved great things in
and other duties.

of living. for the workers.
industry,

work as men.
gled for.

At present the

Mutch.

loved ones.

of fascism, slumps,

AEWU paid tribute to the sacr

Women must take 4 lar.

Women Unionists Meet

HE demand that every effort be exerted to establish
equality. for women and men both now and in postwar
period was a highlight of the recent ‘Women’s National
Conference of the Amalgamated Engineering Union here,

In his opening address, “Jack Tanner, president of the
ifice of women at war. They
industry in spite of domestic

The policy of the union was to fight for an expand-
ing production after the war to satisfy the long-term need
for stable employment and a consistently rising standard
Women would be needed in
and, he thought, would want to work in it.

The ABU Stood for equal pay for equal work in all
circumstances where women were
This, like other advances would be strug-

government was one of the main em-
pleyers of female labor, and it should be the first to rec-
ognize the right of women to equal pay.

fer share in union activity:
and in the political life of the nation, declared Mrs. Jean

“Fascism has taken our all.
We women must not
fight for a future in which there will be no more horrors
slums and starvation,” she said.

. LONDON.

performing the same

«

It has taken _all our.
stand back, we must

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