Women's labor market poverty, women's unemployment, women's involuntary membership in a contingent workforce of part-time, temporary, mostly unprotected workers are not just problems of "labor market development." For the women involved, these experiences are situations of abuse which should be no more acceptable at work than they would be at home. Our survey of a wide range of training initiatives across the country confirmed that training offers one means of intervention and a way to work at restructuring women's relationships.

Women should not tolerate abuse in any sphere - at work, at home or in the broader community.

Unfortunately, good quality training is very difficult to come by. And, of course, training alone - even if we could provide all that we wanted to - is not enough to create a safe, supportive and adequately paid environment for every woman in the labor force. Pay equity, employment equity, legislated access to child care, valuing of women's non-market labor are among a whole range of regulatory and legislated measures which women's groups have identified as essential.

Women have the right to expect that our relationships with the labor market should be nurturing, rewarding, supportive, productive and convivial. We should not have to tolerate abuse in any sphere - at work, at home or in the broader community. Abuse is not inevitable. Both common sense and the results of research projects like the one I recently participated in tell us that opportunities to create positive change do exist.


Ce mariage peut-il être sauvé?
Les femmes et le marché du travail canadien

par Susan Wismer

J'ai récemment participé à un projet de recherche qui visait à déterminer en quoi les programmes de formation ont des conséquences positives sur l'existence des femmes. Nous nous sommes rendu compte qu'une formation peut changer le cours des choses. Ainsi, les femmes qui reçoivent une bonne formation trouvent qu'il leur est plus facile de trouver et de garder un emploi convenable. Comme les problèmes auxquels se heurtent les femmes en matière de formation sont bien documentés, on a trouvé rassurant d'apprendre que des programmes qui mènent à des expériences positives sur le marché du travail sont en train d'être mis en oeuvre dans le pays.

Toutefois, le marché du travail est souvent décevant pour les femmes. Si le mouvement féministe a réussi à faire reconnaître l'inadmissibilité des abus physiques, les abus dont font l'objet les femmes dans le milieu de travail n'ont pas encore été cernés avec précision. Des salaires de misère, des emplois qui mettent en péril la santé et posent des dangers, des emplois à temps partiel ou temporaires contribuent tous à créer des relations abusives entre les femmes et le marché du travail.

Mais, comme les femmes n'ont d'autres choix que celui de faire partie du marché du travail pour répondre à leurs besoins financiers, nous devrions insister pour que nos relations avec le marché du travail soient stimulantes, rémunératrices, solidaires, productives et amicales.

Susan Wismer is currently Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at the University of Waterloo. She lives in Guelph with her two daughters (Sarah and Rachel), a dog, a cat and a rabbit. Karen Lior is Coordinator of ACTEW (Advocates for Community-based Training and Education for Women). ACTEW is a coalition of Ontario organizations providing community-based employment and training services;

  1. During a recent review of the current situation, we could find no comprehensive evaluation of the impact of training on women's economic situation carried out since Women's Education and Training, published by the Canadian Congress on Learning Opportunities for Women in 1988. See Susan Wismer, "Notes on Women and the Economy," prepared for the Ontario Advisory Council on Women's Issues, February 1994.

  2. A crazy quilt is made of bits and pieces of available fabric in varied shapes, sizes and colors, stitched together in whatever way is possible to create a quilt top of the required size.

  3. For a good survey of the current situation, see the Winter 1993/94 issue of Women's Education des femmes (Vol. 10, No.3/4). See also Ingrid Wellmeier, Report and Recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee on Transitions Research (Ottawa: Canadian Labour Force Development Board, 1993) and Susan Wismer, Women's Education and Training in Canada: A Policy Analysis (Toronto: CCLOW, 1988).

  4. Paul Phillips and Erin Phillips, Women and Work, James Lorimer and Co.: Toronto, 1993.

  5. Committee on Women and Economic Restructuring, Women and Economic Restructuring. Canadian Labour Market and Productivity Centre: Ottawa, 1994.

  6. ibid.

  7. Morley Gunderson, Leon Muszynski, Jennifer Keck, Women and Labour Market Poverty. Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women, 1990.

  8. Beth Moore Milroy and Susan Wismer, "Communities, Work and Public/Private Sphere Models" in Gender, Space and Culture. Vol. 1: No.1, 1994, pp. 71-90.

  9. Recent proposals for social welfare reform in Canada indicate that this situation is unlikely to change. These proposals place heavy reliance on the labor market and provide very little room for opting out based on previous bad experience.

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