Married Women In Canada

During the period of 1921-1931, there was great expansion of manufacturing, financial and commercial establishments. These growing labour market needs along with the growth of public sector bureaucracy that substantially increased the volume of office work provided the incentive to hire women workers. Though the number of women employed in the clerical sector increased considerably owing to feminization of office work, the developments in the civil service took shape differently. The influx of women in the civil service aroused fears amongst the men and in 1921; married women were barred from holding permanent positions. This resulted in a decline of female civil servants between 1921 and 1931, as not many women could stay in civil service

The Unemployment Insurance (UI) Act helped to achieve this objective. It was believed that the married women were draining the unemployment insurance fund and therefore, an amendment to the UI Act disqualified married women from UI benefits unless certain conditions were fulfilled that proved her attachment to the labour force. Additionally, the lack of childcare facilities made most women see home as their first priority so as to nurture her young ones. A survey of married women in the labour force conducted by the Department of Labour in 1958 in eight cities in Canada found that only a minority had recourse to organized daycare facilities and in the absence of such facilities, grandmothers and other relatives, older children and neighbours looked after young children while mothers had to go to

This period also saw the growth of part-time work performed by women as an alternative to full-time employment. This enabled women to effectively manage the job-family conflict where they had to juggle between work and family responsibilities. Moreover, women exerted pressure on the Federal Government to provide for childcare facilities. The Federal Government also fostered certain changes that brought about a significant increase in the female labour force participation. In 1966, the Federal Government introduced the Canada Assistance Plan (CAP) to provide for childcare services throughout Canada. Under the Plan, childcare was treated like other welfare services and childcare centers were subsidized with the Federal and Provincial Governments sharing the costs.

Thus, the FLFPR almost doubled from 26 percent in 1951 to about 52 percent in 1981 mainly because of feminization of the clerical sector due to Canada’s transformation into a service economy marked by ‘growing size of corporations and expansion of government services.’ In comparison, the MLFPR reduced dramatically owing to the prevalence of the trend among older males (aged 55-64) who faced prolonged unemployment during those decades to opt for early retirement and take ‘advantage of special provisions available in public and private pension