Objective Conditions
Since Confederation in Canada, and even further back, women have always been greatly inferior to men; politically, socially, economically and legally. Even in 1867, women were not even considered to be "persons" under Canada's constitution, The BNA Act, until around 1929. Canada and the majority of the rest of the world then were all primarily dominated by males. Women have always been thought to stay at home and to fulfill their only roles of becoming wives and mothers, as employers have believed that work will distract them from these roles. From this sprung up the problem of a pay and work inequality between women and men.
Women were only considered to be in the labour force if they worked outside of home. Women could work in the labour force only until they were married. Studies have shown that more than 90% of the female children born between the years of 1810 and 1870 eventually married, during the 19th century. Once a woman was married, it was believed that she belonged at home while her husband was the one who supported the family and if she did work, her husband was considered to be a failure. Her duties included tending livestock, managing the garden, spinning yarn, sewing clothing, and preserving fruits and vegetables. But, this began to change around the turn of the 19th century when working-class families faced the reality that the wife did indeed need to work to help support the family. So, factories began to target married women to help production. Girls and women started looking for work in the cities and most jobs they found were in sweatshops and factories. The majority of women worked as servants, teachers, seamstresses, housekeepers, saleswomen and tailors. They worked at the minimum of wages in brutal working conditions for long periods of time. For example, some young girls worked for less than 2 cents per hour, for 60 hours a week. By 1891, women were starting to be recognized as paid workers and out of almost 196,000 women who had jobs, they represented 11.07% of the labour work force.
Moving into the start of the 20th century, there were more job options available to women but yet there was still a strong attitude against married women working outside of home. On the other hand, farmers began advertising for wives once they realized that women were crucial to the success of their farms as shown in the picture below. Aside from the farm life, in 1900, teaching became the only profession open to women that lead to a pension and in 1901, women were more employed in domestic services than in any other occupation, such as cooking or cleaning. These occupations paid the least and they also restricted the freedom and/or privacy of these women. Aside from the women already living in Canada, many immigrant women were recruited due to the short supply of servants. In a couple of years, by 1911, 35% of the women in the domestic labour force were recent immigrants.
Women were only considered to be in the labour force if they worked outside of home. Women could work in the labour force only until they were married. Studies have shown that more than 90% of the female children born between the years of 1810 and 1870 eventually married, during the 19th century. Once a woman was married, it was believed that she belonged at home while her husband was the one who supported the family and if she did work, her husband was considered to be a failure. Her duties included tending livestock, managing the garden, spinning yarn, sewing clothing, and preserving fruits and vegetables. But, this began to change around the turn of the 19th century when working-class families faced the reality that the wife did indeed need to work to help support the family. So, factories began to target married women to help production. Girls and women started looking for work in the cities and most jobs they found were in sweatshops and factories. The majority of women worked as servants, teachers, seamstresses, housekeepers, saleswomen and tailors. They worked at the minimum of wages in brutal working conditions for long periods of time. For example, some young girls worked for less than 2 cents per hour, for 60 hours a week. By 1891, women were starting to be recognized as paid workers and out of almost 196,000 women who had jobs, they represented 11.07% of the labour work force.
Moving into the start of the 20th century, there were more job options available to women but yet there was still a strong attitude against married women working outside of home. On the other hand, farmers began advertising for wives once they realized that women were crucial to the success of their farms as shown in the picture below. Aside from the farm life, in 1900, teaching became the only profession open to women that lead to a pension and in 1901, women were more employed in domestic services than in any other occupation, such as cooking or cleaning. These occupations paid the least and they also restricted the freedom and/or privacy of these women. Aside from the women already living in Canada, many immigrant women were recruited due to the short supply of servants. In a couple of years, by 1911, 35% of the women in the domestic labour force were recent immigrants.
During WWI, beginning in 1914, many jobs were left open due to the number of men who were enlisted for the army and it was women who replaced them. Since the job was supposed to be temporary, most women found jobs with lower-level skills that they were familiar with like becoming secretaries, clerks, typists and factory workers. However, unlike the men who worked for those same jobs, women received about only half the pay that men received and they had fewer opportunities for promotion. Then by 1917, there were about 35,000 employed women, who were mostly unmarried, working in the heavy industry, mainly the munition industry, for the first time in Canada. Despite this, women were never paid nearly as much as men. For example, in the munition factories, women's wages were about 50-80% of the wages that the men received. This was partly due to the fact that work women did were thought to be "less valuable" than the work performed by men. When the war was over, women were highly encouraged to leave the work force and married women who were employed by the government were legislated out of their previous jobs.
After the war, the number of women who worked outside their home increased as shown in Figure 1 below. But since a good amount of employers still required women to resign from their job when they married, about 90% of working women continued to be single and many were also quite young; half of them were between the ages of 20 and 24. While domestic services continued to be the main work force that women were involved in, there was a very few amount of women who overcame the odds of becoming doctors or lawyers. Unfortunately, they had difficulty finding clients because people were worried and uncomfortable with letting women operate on them or handle their court cases.
After the war, the number of women who worked outside their home increased as shown in Figure 1 below. But since a good amount of employers still required women to resign from their job when they married, about 90% of working women continued to be single and many were also quite young; half of them were between the ages of 20 and 24. While domestic services continued to be the main work force that women were involved in, there was a very few amount of women who overcame the odds of becoming doctors or lawyers. Unfortunately, they had difficulty finding clients because people were worried and uncomfortable with letting women operate on them or handle their court cases.
As time passed on, around the early 1930s, employers became more comfortable with the idea of women working. This was the time of the Great Depression and not only did women suffer, but men suffered as well. Wives and daughters often became the only employed members of their families. Employers would hire women on a part-time basis, allowing for more flexibility for those struggling businesses. However, this hindered men from finding work. After the Great Depression came the Second World War. During WWII, women found themselves yet again taking over the work of the men who joined the army but they also found themselves serving in the army, the navy and the air force. Then, after the war ended, by 1961, around 30% of all Canadian women were employed nationwide. Women were rising in the work force and they weren't planning on stopping.
Full citation of this picture on the resources page.
This photograph was taken in Montreal inside a Northern Electric Co. Ltd factory, and published by the Globe and Mail. It seems that the people in the picture are working on artillery shells for the First World War, which occurred from 1914 to 1918. There are also overhead lights to help the women see what they're doing but there are no signs of fans anywhere. So, like most factories back then, this factory was probably quite hot and not very comfortable for people to work in. The majority of the people in the photograph are women but there are still a couple of men in the picture as well. One of these men could be the owner of the factory while the other men could be some of the managers or supervisors, since men were usually given higher authority over women. The ages of the women in this photo probably ranged from the early 30s to the mid-60s as these were the more common ages for the working class of women during the First World War. The women are all wearing dresses with long sleeves but they look a bit wrinkled so they must have been working long and hard. It is hard to tell how dirty the dresses are due to the fact that this photo is in black and white but it is safe to assume that factories were quite dirty so their dresses were probably a bit messy as well.
Since this photo was found on the Globe and Mail website, it was probably a professional photo in which its purpose was to be published. But even though it was a professional photo, the photo does not look staged as this type of work for women was quite common within the early 20th century. This photo was probably taken to show people who visited the cite what the working life for women working in factories was like. Also, since it was during WWI, most of the men were off serving in the war so women had to take over and be temporary "replacements" for those jobs. There isn't a clear message that this photo sends but the photo could have wanted to communicate what it was like for women back then who were in the working industry and how hard their lives were in fighting for their own economic rights.
This photo revolves around the idea of women replacing men who went off to go fight in WWI. During this time period, a great number of Canadian factories were dedicated to the war effort. For example, these factories built aviation and tank radios, and fuses for anti-aircraft guns. But with the men off fighting for Canada, women had to take over these jobs in order to help Canada in the war. But when the war was over, women were forced to quit their temporary jobs if the men they replaced wanted their jobs back. This is a clear sign that women were just regarded as a "second option" when the men weren't available, showing how much of an imbalance there was between the two genders during that time period. This is a clear indication that women were put at a disadvantage in the work force in comparison to their male counterparts.
Since this photo was found on the Globe and Mail website, it was probably a professional photo in which its purpose was to be published. But even though it was a professional photo, the photo does not look staged as this type of work for women was quite common within the early 20th century. This photo was probably taken to show people who visited the cite what the working life for women working in factories was like. Also, since it was during WWI, most of the men were off serving in the war so women had to take over and be temporary "replacements" for those jobs. There isn't a clear message that this photo sends but the photo could have wanted to communicate what it was like for women back then who were in the working industry and how hard their lives were in fighting for their own economic rights.
This photo revolves around the idea of women replacing men who went off to go fight in WWI. During this time period, a great number of Canadian factories were dedicated to the war effort. For example, these factories built aviation and tank radios, and fuses for anti-aircraft guns. But with the men off fighting for Canada, women had to take over these jobs in order to help Canada in the war. But when the war was over, women were forced to quit their temporary jobs if the men they replaced wanted their jobs back. This is a clear sign that women were just regarded as a "second option" when the men weren't available, showing how much of an imbalance there was between the two genders during that time period. This is a clear indication that women were put at a disadvantage in the work force in comparison to their male counterparts.