jobs even now do not require great strength to perform and, of those that do, auto-
mation is rapidly eliminating them. That women bear children is probably the histori-
eal cause of the sexual division of labour but this does not imply some sort of
original inferiority of women. The varied arrangements, from culture to culture, for
raising children show that parenthood is a cultural and not a biological phenomena.
Parenthood means much more than the biological bearing of a child and, for either
mother or father, does not necessarily imply that the present division of labour need
continue or that present patterns need remain fixed.

Third—That Women Won Equality with the Vote

There are few who, after honest consideration, would try to defend the statement
that men and women have equal status in this society.

Playboy and the Bunnies ere one obvious symptom that women are not viewed with
respect and appreciated on the basis of their creative potential. "Chivalry" is
another disguised form of the same phenomena—the price the little woman pays for
those attentions is the loss of her autonomy. To be treated like a china doll is not
the same thing as being treated like a human being.

Job discrimination is all pervasive. The number of women working in Canada |
increased 6% from 1957 to 1967 and continues to increase. A close examination of |
the kind of jobs that women get however, and the wages paid shows that this increase
is hardly a.reliable indicator of increasing equality. Rather it shows increasing
economic disadvantage since most women now simply do two jobs--—one completely unpaid
in the home and one underpaid in the work force. Women do not simply work for "pin
money". Almost 0% of the wage-lLabour force in Canada is female; 85% of the working
women in Canada work full-time; and 400,000 Canadian families rely exclusively on the
mother 's income. Women make however, less than half what men with the same education
make. Women cannot be independent or autonomous intellectually, emotionally and
socially without being economically independent.

In spite of automation and mechanization which remove the necessity for physical
‘strength from most jobs, most jobs are still closed to women. One-third of all: working
women have clerical jobs. So long as this situation exists, the pool of unemployed
women (in or out of the home) is used very effectively to reduce women's wages and
prevent women workers from achieving job security. Women with all their skills and
talents are very consciously taught to view themselves in one way—-as wives and
mothers—until our economy needs our labour. The experience of the First and Second
World Wars show us that when the labour of women is needed, it is used.

Women do not take part in making many of the decisions vital to their own lives.
Abortion laws, property laws, and many others discriminate against women.

Fourth—The Myth That Things Are Improving for Women

| In terms of women's integration into public life and in terms of improving social
status, women's position in our society is worse now than it was forty years ago. In
1930-two out of every five BA's was held by a woman and one out of every seven PhD's
‘compared to one out of three BA's and one out of ten PhD's today.

The sexual exploitation of women (masquerading under the name of the New Morality)
is reaching new heights as women are used not only to sell cars, vodka and mouthwash,
but increasingly view themselves as something to be packaged and sold. Fortune maga-
zine predicts that the fashion industry for this year will exceed a market of $36
billion dollars. :