Canadian workplaces today seem to be a fairly diverse place, with a blend of many religions, ethnicities, and genders present. However, although people preach affirmative action and melting pots in current times, many inequality and power issues still abound. One strikingly noticeable example is gender discrimination. Women in the workforce face many challenges like smaller wages, harassment, male privilege in hiring or promotions, and lack of support when pregnant or raising children. One half of the planet is women, and it can be assumed the same for Canada, but they still face judgment at work because they lack the authority to dispute against big corporations or even their male supervisor. It cannot be argued that Canadian women’s status has worsened over the past hundred years, of course, thanks to feminism and activism. However, their status is not as high as it could be. Women as a group first started fighting for workplace equality during the second wave of feminism, from the 1960s to the 1990s. Legislation was approved during the second wave to try to bring gender equality to the workplace. Feminists both collided and collaborated with unions and employers to ensure women received fair treatment in an occupation. Quebec had the same issues, only the province approached the conflict differently than English Canada with its own unique viewpoint. It became clear that women were entering the workplace and did not plan on leaving. Second-wave feminism in Canada shifted power from the government and businesses to women in order to try to bring equality, although the discrimination never completely disappeared. The origins and types of second-wave feminism provide a background for women’s experiences at the t... ... middle of paper ... ... http://womenshistory.about.com/od/glossary/a/Liberal-Feminism.htm. Lewis, J. J. (n.d. b). Radical feminism. Women’s History. Retrieved from http://womenshistory.about.com/od/feminism/g/radicalfeminism.htm. Morris, M. (2000). Some facts and dates in Canadian women’s history of the 20th century. Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women, 20(1). Retrieved from http://criaw-icref.ca/millenium. Rampton, M. (2008). The three waves of feminism. PACIFIC. Retrieved from http://www.pacificu.edu/magazine_archives/2008/fall/echoes/feminism.cfm. Sangster, J. (2000). Feminism and the making of Canadian working-class history: Exploring the past, present and future. Labour/La Travail, 46, 127-165. Sangster, J. (2010). Radical ruptures: Feminism, labor, and the left in the long sixties in Canada. The American Review of Canadian Studies, 40(1), 1-21.
In Canada, women make up slightly more than half of the population. However, throughout Canadian history and modern day, women are needing to stand up for themselves and other women to bring about change. Canadian women are strong and have the power to work together and bring about change. Jennie Trout stood up for Canadian women that wanted to be in the medical field, women during WWI made a difference in their lives by entering the workplace and standing for their right to work, Nellie McClung was a leader for women’s suffrage, and The Famous Five campaigned and won The “Persons” Case allowing women to be considered persons under the Canadian Constitution. These women were instigators of change. Change for women only occurs when ambitious and courageous women stand up for a difference that they deserve.
Over several decades, Canadian women have greatly exceeded and made several advancement in earning women’s equality. Agnes MacPhail was a strong determined woman. At a young age, Macphail disliked housework and preferred helping her father with the farm livestock. She had longed for a life outside the farm work and hoped to attend school. However, Agnes’ family was in dire need for help to support the farm. She took action and never lost hope as she pleaded for two years for her parent's approval to go to school. With persistence and hope she gained their permission to start an education. Several women have shown phenomenal strength and conquered challenges to achieve equality. Women lived in a male-dominated society; however after 1914, Canadian
When we look at the history of women’s paid employment in Canada, we can see that society has come a long way. Previously, women’s work was in the home, in the private sphere. Her work consisted of taking care uniquely of the home and the children. Rarely, would we see women working for a wage expect for poor women; only because, their families needed the income. Mainly, the only jobs that were available for women were domestic service, a job that relates to the private sphere of the home. People believed that if a woman had paid employment, she was taking away a paycheck from a man, or she would become too manly.
“Honey, you’re not a person, now get back in the kitchen and make me a sandwich!” If a husband were to say these words to his wife today, he would likely receive a well-deserved smack to the face. It is not until recently that Canadian women have received their status as people and obtained equal rights as men. Women were excluded from an academic education and received a lesser pay than their male counter parts. With the many hardships women had to face, women were considered the “slave of slaves” (Women’s Rights). In the past century, women have fought for their rights, transitioning women from the point of being a piece of property to “holding twenty-five percent of senior positions in Canada” (More women in top senior positions: Report). The Married Women’s Property Act, World War I, The Person’s Case, and Canadian Human Rights Act have gained Canadian women their rights.
Consequently, there were social changes, through urbanization and industrialization, that transformed the social order and the status of women. The first Montreal movement for women suffrage was inspired by the socio-economic developments that was influencing urban reform.22 Their purpose was to change their household role into professions within the urban transformation of society.23 As a result of their social implication, they desired women rights in “public health, the organization of municipal services, work regulation for women and children, access to education, and professional opportunities.”24 Despite their strong will, the first few Quebec women movements had failed and disbanded. Still, they were able to organize the women and give them the potential of their capabilities in politics.
I have chosen to discuss the Bargaining for Collective Responsibilities for Social Reproduction chapter written by Alice De Wolff. I agree with Alice De Wolff on the arguments that she presented within the chapter regarding the major reconstruction of employment by unions and the positive changes it has made for Canadians especially women. I was interested to learn about the changes made in the employment sector from an activist’s point of view; as Alice De Wolff has been extremely active in the women and labour movements in Canada. In this chapter review I will discuss the tension between employment and private life not only for women but for all employees. Second I will discuss the changes in employment that have been made by unions and activist through bargaining and campaigns. And lastly I will discuss the need for national childcare in Canada.
Racial discrimination in the workplace has been a persistent theme in Canada’s history as well as present-day times. The occurrence of actions and attitudes that impose a sense of one being less equal than another on the basis of one’s race in Canada’s workplace inhibits both our nation’s ability to move forward as well as strengthen unification within our country. The belief in a more egalitarian society, where one’s race and ethnic background have little to no impact on employees (or potential employees) standings within the job market, would seemingly be reinforced by the majority of Canadians, who consistently show support for Canada’s multicultural identity. Couple that with the noticeable strides Canada has made in the past several decades through legislation, in order to eliminate discriminatory practices and actions within the workplace, and one would likely assume that racial discrimination within the workplace is largely a concern of the past. However, current research supports the argument that the level of which racial discrimination occurs today is increasing, and as such it persists to be a key problem in the current workplace of the nation. In the workplace, racial discrimination is often seen with regard to uneven access to jobs, unfair selection and promotion criteria (as well as access to the means in order to meet this criteria), and workplace harassment. This paper compares similar findings of two articles; the first, Racial inequality in employment in Canada, as was published in the Canadian Public Administration (CPA), and the second, What Are Immigrants’ Experiences of Discrimination in the Workplace?, published by the Toronto Immigrant Employment Data Initiative (TIEDI).
Today many of us view Canada as a forward thinking nation that is all about equality, no matter what skin colour you are, gender you identify as, religion you follow, etc. This wasn’t always the case. The 1920’s kind of blew if you weren’t a male in most countries and Canada was not exception to this. In the 20’s the average wage was
Stefoi, E. (2008) Women’s rights history – from suffrage to diplomatic career: address. Available at: http://ottawa.mae.ro/index.php?lang=en&id=66579 (Accessed: 27 February 2010)
Margaret Atwood’s work eloquently reflects how Canadian society operated from 1945 to 1980. Her published works, Siren Song, The Circle Game, and Nothing New Here accurately portray what the Canadian post-World War Two lifestyle was like. This is demonstrated through messages about oppression of women, self-reflection, and need for environmental awareness. To begin, the second women’s movement took place from 1960-1985. At this time women were finally starting to gain some independence, although they were continuing to fight for systemic equality and birth control, they were also focusing on peace and disarmament. Women simply wanted their voices to be heard and taken seriously, so groups were created such as The Voice of Women, and the Women’s
The origins of Third Wave feminism are highly debated, as there is no clear commonality that this wave uses to differentiate between the First and Second waves that occurred prior. Emerging during the 1990’s, Third Wave feminism sought to build upon the achievements and ideas that were accomplished during First and Second wave’s, by increasing the significance and accessibility of its ideas to a greater spectrum of people.
I agree that women are still undervalued, underrepresented and mistreated in terms of social and legal policy making, thus making the discrimination of women a prevalent concern today. In Canada women are the majority of victims when it comes to spousal violence (physical, sexual and harassment) representing 83% of all victims. If the statistics were reversed and this was happening to men there would have been laws in place to protect men years ago. Some laws have been put in place for women but they are mostly just band aids trying to cover up the bigger issue. For example the "Battered Woman Syndrome" defence has been put in place. The term that refers to a pattern of psychological and behavioral symptoms found in women living in abusive
Demographics and diversity of the labour force has been very dynamic in the last couple of decade in Canada with significant effect on union membership (Foley and Baker, 2009, Statistics Canada, 2017). The labour force has been described as “feminized” (Briskin and McDermott 1993) as women are increasingly integrated into formal work and union activities, which require unions to cater to the needs of women as a distinct group. These women have continued to struggle for equity in pay for work of equal value, increase in minimum wage, equity in employment legislations, reproductive and other issues (Foley and Baker,
This dissatisfaction soon turned into a more aggressive mindset. In her article "The Rising of Women," Canadian journalist Myrna Kostash discusses her involvement in the Women's Rights Movement of the 1960s focussing on social and cultural
Multiracial Feminism: Recasting the Chronology of Second Wave Feminism introduces ideas by Becky Thompson that contradict the “traditional” teachings of the Second Wave of feminism. She points out that the version of Second Wave feminism that gets told centers around white, middle class, US based women and the central problem being focused on and rallied against is sexism. This history of the Second Wave does not take into consideration feminist movements happening in other countries. Nor does it take into consideration the feminist activism that women of color were behind, that centered not only on sexism, but also racism, and classism as central problems as well. This is where the rise of multiracial feminism is put to the foreground and a different perspective of the Second Wave is shown.