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WHAT'S NEW
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Leveling the playing field for women
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Homemakers has always fought for women's rights. Here, we look back on some of the issues we have tackled in the last 35 years.
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By Heather Buchan and Colleen Clarke
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Parental leave
In 1981, Homemakers asked the same question that Canadian women had been asking for many generations: when is Canada going to stop penalizing women for having babies? In a long overdue decision, the federal government had signed the Copenhagen Convention on July 17, 1980, which introduced maternity leave with pay or equal benefits, and just as importantly, job security -- upon return women would hold the same position and seniority as when they left, Homemakers noted in the article. Homemakers reported that in many cases the convention had not truly been observed. Twenty years later, a mother-to-be and father-to-be are allowed 50 weeks of combined maternity and parental leave with a minimum of 55 per cent or $413 of her or his regular pay.
Pay equity
Over the years, Homemakers encouraged women to fight for pay equity. In 1967, the average annual income of women was only 43 per cent of her male counterpart's salary. But in a 1974 article, Homemakers reported that the number of working women was steadily increasing and times were changing -- in 1901, only 16 per cent of the work force was comprised of women and in 1974, the percentage was 34. In 2000, the percentage had risen to 46 per cent. Women still don't earn the same as men, but the scales are more balanced than they were. In 1997, women were making 73 per cent of the average male wage Statistics Canada reported. Today, all the provincial jurisdictions as well as the federal jurisdiction have some form of equal pay legislation. Manitoba, Ontario, PEI, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have proactive legislation requiring an employer to implement pay equity whether or not there has been a complaint, while the federal and Quebec jurisdictions require a complaint before implementation of equal pay is undertaken.
Child care
A problem many women face when choosing an outside career over full-time housekeeping, is that of day care. Homemakers conducted a survey in 1972 to find out if Canadian women actually wanted more day care. The results suggested that many women had no need themselves for day care, but most were concerned for working mothers that did have a need -- in 1967, 97 per cent of children of working mothers did not have access to day care. Unfortunately, that statistic has not improved greatly. As recently as 1998, 90 per cent of children were still unable to go to regulated child care centres due to a lack of space.
Non-traditional jobs
In 1987, Homemakers featured several women who were making strides in the man's world of trades, such as apprentice machinist Lana Rafufe of Halifax and Yvonne Guay, a Vancouver chimney sweep. Although approximately 60 per cent of all employed women worked in "pink-collar" jobs: sales, nursing, clerical and service occupations, jobs that traditionally have not paid well, women began to enter new non-traditional trades in 1987. A pattern seems to have been set. In 1966, Homemakers premier year, only 11 per cent of graduating doctors were female. By 1987 the number had increased to 42 per cent, and in 2000 women made up 49.6 per cent of graduating MDs.
Discrimination
In 1975, Homemakers was outraged at the discrimination women faced at all types of financial institutions, but they predicted a change would come. We noted that in the '60s, a single woman with a charge account of her own was likely to lose that account upon marriage, and afterwards required her husband's approval, in the way of a signature, to obtain any further credit and women who did obtain loans often discovered that they were significantly smaller than loans single men - earning the same amount and with less capital -- would receive. On September 3, 1981, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights passed a convention to eliminated discrimination against women -- giving women the right to bank loans, mortgages and financial credit. Sole access for women to bank loans, mortgages, and financial credit are now common practices in Canada.
Spousal abuse
In 1975, Homemakers published an article giving women information and courage to leave abusive relationships. At that time there were only a handful of women's shelters across the country and many women stayed in abusive relationships because there was nowhere to go. There are now approximately 450 shelters across Canada. However, the problem of abuse is still rampant and most shelters are at or over capacity, says Pilar Martin, program manager of the Emily Stowe Shelter for Women. "We get two to five calls a day from women needing help, but we cannot accommodate them."
Contraception and abortion
In 1983, Homemakers revealed a way in which many politicians avoid confrontation on thorny moral issues. Before 1969 it was actually illegal to sell contraceptives or even for a health-care professional to give advice on contraception in Canada. Though the laws were often broken they were seldom enforced, HM pointed out. And abortions, which were also illegal, were routinely performed under the guise of a Curetage, otherwise known as a D and C necessary "for menstrual irregularities." In 1969, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau changed the laws regarding contraception and abortion, allowing abortions when a woman's health was at risk, but even then that procedure had to be approved by a panel of three doctors. In 1988, the existing abortion laws were declared unconstitutional and the law was abolished.
Canada's first women
The last 35 years have seen many firsts for Canadian women and throughout the years Homemakers has kept a record on all of these achievements. In 1993, Homemakers ran an article on Florence Bird who became the first woman to head a royal commission in 1967, Bertha Wilson, who served on the Supreme Court beginning in 1982, and Jeanne Sauvé who was appointed Governor General in 1984. In 1991, Homemakers reported that 1989 was the first year women were allowed to do any job in the Canadian Armed Forces, including combat, but excluding submarine duty. And even that has changed -- today a woman can captain a sub if she is qualified. We also reported in 1992 on Roberta Bondar's breakthrough mission as the first Canadian woman in space, and in the following year we wrote on Kim Campbell, who was sworn in that same year as Prime Minister. In 1998, Homemakers followed a team of elite women hockey players participating in the first women's hockey event in the 1998 Olympics, bringing home a silver medal. Stay tuned!
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