Status of Women - brief

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Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)

Dates

1968 (indexed as 1968)

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file

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Includes a clipping from the Montreal Star from June of 1968 discussing a presentation given by Pioneer Women's leadership to the Royal Commission on the Status of Women.

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Status of Women - brief

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ChildDocumentFamilyGovernmentGroup PortraitHatHeadlineNewspaperNewspaper ClippingPoliticsPortraitPrintedRoyal CommissionWomanTagged automatically by a vision model; may contain mistakes.

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e Montreal StarGENERAL NEWSWEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 1968PAGES 59 - 86Status of Women hearingsWomen in the workforce must have same rights as men, is French-Canadian women's viewBy SHEILA ARNOPOULOSThis was the view of the Association Féminine d'Education et d'Action Sociale which presented a brief to the Royal Commission on the Status of Women yesterday.PIONEER WOMEN: Mrs. Bertha Stein and Mrs. Ida Ungar presented a brief yesterday to the Royal Commission on the Status of Women on behalf of the Pioneer Women's Organization of Canada. Hearings continue until Friday.See STATUS, Page 71, Col. 2SEE STORY, Page 71, Col. 3The place of a mother with pre-school children is in the home but when her services are no longer needed and she joins the workforce, she should have the same rights as a man.The group, which represents 30,000 rural and urban French-Canadian women, focused on the problems of the working woman and made a number of recommendations.Many of their proposals were similar to those presented by women in other provinces. They advocated, for example, day care centres, maternity leave, part time work, and retraining.They also suggested that education be given to boys to prepare them for future duties in child rearing and housekeeping.The group felt that no mother with preschool children should be forced to leave the home to work for financial reasons. "A mother," they said, "should be granted a monthly payment if necessary."La Fédération des Services Sociaux à la famille de Québec — an organization which represents 17 agencies — presented a large brief which centred on: women heads of families, unmarried mothers, delinquent women, immigrant women, and women who wish to remain at home."Women who head families without the help of a husband often feel an intense isolation because of a lack of communication with the exterior world. They are also often crushed by family responsibilities and live in financial insecurity."The group recommended a whole series of gratuitous services covering education, medical services, family counselling, and legal aid. They also felt that the court should be responsible for tracking down husbands for alimony payments.Staff Photo by Peter BrosseauYesterday a Jewish group presented a brief for the first time to the Royal Commission. The Pioneer Women's Organization, which has over 3,000 members in Canada, devoted a large part of their submission to day care — a well-worn subject during the cross-Canada hearings.They made two recommendations which have not been extensively dealt with. One was that more male participation be sought in day care centres to provide the male image so often lacking for a young child who may not have a father around. A second was that all day care centres be non-sectarian.Mrs. Stein, who presented the brief said there were only three agency-supported day care centres in Montreal: the Montreal Day Nursery, the Sisters of Social Service (St. Famille street), and Neighborhood House.She pointed out that each centre tended to cater to a different religious group and that mothers sent their children to the nursery run by members of their religion. "This creates problems," said Mrs. Stein, "because often the centre is not conveniently located."The Pioneer Women's brief reiterated the views of Miss Barbara Chisholm of Toronto, a noted child care authority, who presented a brief during the hearings in Toronto.Miss Chisholm saw good day care centres as providing "supplementary mothering." Mrs. Stein in the Pioneer brief said: "Day care centres support and strengthen the parental role by supplementing, where necessary, the care the family can give, thus reducing the instances of family breakdown."A problem not heard in other parts of Canada by the Royal Commission on the Status of Women was presented yesterday by the Chamber of Notaries of Quebec who demanded that complete jurisdiction on marriage and divorce be turned over to provincial governments.The notaries said that although Ottawa has jurisdiction regarding marriage (with the exception of solemnization) and divorce, the federal authorities have not interfered regarding marriage."There is some doubt about the constitutionality of Bill 16 because the Quebec Legislature does not have exclusive jurisdiction on legislation concerning marriage."Mrs. Edith Guilbert, who was part of the delegation, said in an interview that there is an incompatibility between the federal divorce laws and article 185 of the Civil Code proclaiming the indissolubility of marriage.The main point of the group was that the Quebec family has its own rights and ethic characteristics and that Quebec rather than Ottawa would be best at interpreting them.Dr. John Humphrey, one of the commissioners, and a law expert, asked whether minority rights would be observed. "Of course," he was assured.Read automatically; may contain mistakes.

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2026-10-19T02:01:12Z · source datestamp n/a · andornot

Digital objects at the source

• imageOpen original at source ↗MA07-5-3-MontrealStarClipping-1968.jpg