Employment trends for women in British Columbia were examined for the 1953 to 1965 period. A time series study showing the effects of secular, seasonal, cyclical and higher educational variables on participation rates was undertaken. Primary source data, necessary for studying the higher educational variable, was obtained from a questionnaire which was constructed and mailed to 1,000 randomly selected married women who were University of British Columbia Graduates from 1922 to 1965 inclusive. The time series analysis indicated that a composite of the variables examined influenced in varying degrees the Female Participation Rates in British Columbia during the 1953 to 1965 period. The economic and educational implications of this analysis have been discussed. Evidence has been given that an underlying, dominant secular trend exists of steadily increasing British Columbia Female Participation Rates. Married Women Graduate Participation Rates have been shown to exhibit a similar rising pattern. Correlation between the two is +.88. Although the secular trend appears to dominate, women are also shown to be affected by both seasonal and cyclical variations. There would seem to be in British Columbia a supply of women who tend to enter the Labour Force when employment opportunities are high and who leave when economic conditions are depressed. Of importance for educational and occupational counselling is the knowledge obtained that the Participation Rates for all British Columbia women have risen steadily from twenty-three to thirty-one per cent over a twelve year period and that the Participation Rates for Married Women Graduates have risen from one and a half to two and a half per cent over the same period. This knowledge implies that some form of vocational training is of vital importance to all girls. Another finding with direct application to the counselling of adolescent and adult women is the strong evidence of the practical value of a university degree. The research showed that economic cycles in British Columbia had approximately only one fourth as much effect on the employment of the Married Women University Graduates as upon the British Columbia Female Labour Force. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

The proportion of women in the Canadian labour force has grown steadily in recent decades. Many of these, however, are younger women who retire from gainful employment after marriage. Married women who work are a special section of the population; they have been the subject of social studies in several countries, but not so far in Canada. This thesis is a supplementary study, influenced by the national survey of married women who are gainfully employed now being undertaken (1956) by the Women's Bureau of the Canadian Department of Labour. The facts reviewed in this present report are obtained from only fifty of the women Interviewed in one of the sample cities (Vancouver); but the opportunity has been taken to make them the basis of all the pros and cons of the situation, including the reasons for working, the types of work, and the effects on family life. The schedule used for the interviews is a standardized, comprehensive one worked out with the assistance of a national advisory committee including the research directors of the Schools of Social Work in Canada. Only a minimum of statistical tabulation is undertaken for this limited sample; a few other schedules obtained from university students were added, and there is no intention to present the information as statistically representative. A systematic review of the qualitative material is attempted, however, to illustrate the differentials which must be considered in a definitive assessment. After experiment with other classifications, it was found most effective to distinguish three main groups (a) families composed of husband and wife without children (or younger dependents); (b) "complete" families with husband and wife and children in the home, and (c) "broken" families, in which the working mother was a widow, separated or divorced, or with dependent or partially dependent husband. The significance of these differences is readily apparent from the views recorded. It was also apparent that the socio-economic differences associated with different levels of income and grade of work (e.g., professional, clerical, service, factory) are of direct importance in modifying the consequences for the family; but these could only be indicated illustratively. In a final section, an endeavour is made to bring together all provisional findings, distinguishing broadly the implications (a) for the woman as a person and as a marital partner, (b) for the children, and parental aspects of family life, and (c) for the community as a whole. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

This thesis documents the employment history of Sne-nay-muxw women. The Sne nay-muxw, a Coast Salish peoples, live on the southeast coast ofVancouver Island close to the city ofNanaimo. Nanaimo was established by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1852 as coal mining town. Coal dominated the economy until the early 20th century when forestry related production became important. Today a service economy has eclipsed both the primary and secondary industries. Within these economies a distinct gender, race and class segregation structured Sne-nay-muxw women’s employment opportunities. This study examines the nature of this segregation, the Sne-nay-muxw domestic economy and the gender ideology that promoted both women’s inclusion and exclusion in. wage labour. A central question posed in this thesis is why Sne-nay-muxw women today perceive their traditional roles to be within the home despite their historical participation in the labour force. Feminist anthropology provides the theoretical and methodological approach used for this study. It is accepted that women’s experiences in the labour force are different not only from men but also from other women based upon relational inequalities ofrace and class. Historical data was collected from a variety of sources; published and unpublished government reports, missionary accounts, letters and journals. Nineteen women and eight men were interviewed in the community for both historic and contemporary accounts of employment experiences. History reveals that during the mining economy Sne-nay-muxw women were excluded from working in the mines and limited to employment as domestic servants. The introduction of Chinese labour, decreasing coal demands and increased technology forced many women to migrate with their families to the canneries on the Fraser river and the hop fields in Washington state. In the forestry related production economy, Sne-nay-muxw women’s opportunities were limited despite the expansion of employment for women in the service sector. State policies and inferior education were significant factors in this exclusion. At this time Sne-nay-muxw women continued to migrate with their families to the fish camps on Rivers Inlet and the berry fields in Washington state. In the last two decades the service economy has dominated in Nanaimo. Sne-nay-muxw women have found increasing job opportunities on and off reserve in administration, management and professional service delivery programs. While this employment is part of the wider trend for women in the service economy, Sne-nay-muxw women’s opportunities remain segregated by gender, race and class. Women’s participation in the labour force is shown to be linked to the organization of their domestic economy. Before 1920 this economy incorporated both subsistence production and farming with seasonal wage labour. After this time the Sne-nay-muxw became increasingly dependent upon wage labour. However, extended family and kinship networks have remained important for support and cooperation. This form ofhousehold organization did not constrain women’s participation in the labour force. Today extended families remain the central organizing principle in Sne-nay-muxw lives. Sne-nay-muxw women’s identity and opportunities for education and employment remain linked to their membership in these families. Shifts in women’s participation in the labour force is shown to be accompanied by acceptance of a domestic ideology. During the mining economy when women actively sought wage labour, they acquired domestic skills needed for wage labour but did not accept an ideology that promoted their dependency upon men. Historical evidence indicates that they retained a significant degree of autonomy in their lives. With men’s increased security of employment in the forestry economy, the idealized role ofwomen as housewives was promoted. Families that were able to realize women’s exclusion from the labour force gained status and prestige in the community. Finally, in the service economy, the Sne-nay-muxw gender ideology includes women’s participation in the labour force to occupations linked to their domestic and nurturing roles.

This thesis documents the employment history of Sne-nay-muxw women. The Sne nay-muxw, a Coast Salish peoples, live on the southeast coast ofVancouver Island close to the city ofNanaimo. Nanaimo was established by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1852 as coal mining town. Coal dominated the economy until the early 20th century when forestry related production became important. Today a service economy has eclipsed both the primary and secondary industries. Within these economies a distinct gender, race and class segregation structured Sne-nay-muxw women’s employment opportunities. This study examines the nature of this segregation, the Sne-nay-muxw domestic economy and the gender ideology that promoted both women’s inclusion and exclusion in. wage labour. A central question posed in this thesis is why Sne-nay-muxw women today perceive their traditional roles to be within the home despite their historical participation in the labour force. Feminist anthropology provides the theoretical and methodological approach used for this study. It is accepted that women’s experiences in the labour force are different not only from men but also from other women based upon relational inequalities ofrace and class. Historical data was collected from a variety of sources; published and unpublished government reports, missionary accounts, letters and journals. Nineteen women and eight men were interviewed in the community for both historic and contemporary accounts of employment experiences. History reveals that during the mining economy Sne-nay-muxw women were excluded from working in the mines and limited to employment as domestic servants. The introduction of Chinese labour, decreasing coal demands and increased technology forced many women to migrate with their families to the canneries on the Fraser river and the hop fields in Washington state. In the forestry related production economy, Sne-nay-muxw women’s opportunities were limited despite the expansion of employment for women in the service sector. State policies and inferior education were significant factors in this exclusion. At this time Sne-nay-muxw women continued to migrate with their families to the fish camps on Rivers Inlet and the berry fields in Washington state. In the last two decades the service economy has dominated in Nanaimo. Sne-nay-muxw women have found increasing job opportunities on and off reserve in administration, management and professional service delivery programs. While this employment is part of the wider trend for women in the service economy, Sne-nay-muxw women’s opportunities remain segregated by gender, race and class. Women’s participation in the labour force is shown to be linked to the organization of their domestic economy. Before 1920 this economy incorporated both subsistence production and farming with seasonal wage labour. After this time the Sne-nay-muxw became increasingly dependent upon wage labour. However, extended family and kinship networks have remained important for support and cooperation. This form ofhousehold organization did not constrain women’s participation in the labour force. Today extended families remain the central organizing principle in Sne-nay-muxw lives. Sne-nay-muxw women’s identity and opportunities for education and employment remain linked to their membership in these families. Shifts in women’s participation in the labour force is shown to be accompanied by acceptance of a domestic ideology. During the mining economy when women actively sought wage labour, they acquired domestic skills needed for wage labour but did not accept an ideology that promoted their dependency upon men. Historical evidence indicates that they retained a significant degree of autonomy in their lives. With men’s increased security of employment in the forestry economy, the idealized role ofwomen as housewives was promoted. Families that were able to realize women’s exclusion from the labour force gained status and prestige in the community. Finally, in the service economy, the Sne-nay-muxw gender ideology includes women’s participation in the labour force to occupations linked to their domestic and nurturing roles. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

This thesis examines the strategy of community economic development (CED) to potentially alleviate some of the hardships women experience in obtaining both adequate income through employment and access to transitional (crisis) housing. These two distinct yet inter-related problems have been selected to provide a manageable scope for this thesis and as a result of my own keen interest and involvement in these two areas: employment and crisis housing for women. Indeed, as a comprehensive development strategy, CED may provide the means to effectively deal with the broader complex of disadvantages such as social and economic dependency, marginalization and isolation by providing opportunities for independence and social change. Women are concentrated in low paid occupations, earn 62% of what men earn (1980), experience high unemployment and a number of employment barriers including subtle and/or overt discrimination and a double burden of work and family responsibilities. Women earn 30% (1980) of the total income in B.C., experience a disproportionate amount of poverty as individuals and as single parent family heads, and are twice as likely as men to report government transfer payments as our main source of income. In addition, one in ten women who are married or in a live-in relationship with a lover is battered, and only 50% have access to a transition house or hostel which accepts women who are battered. Due to full capacities, those houses that do exist regularly must refuse access. CED is a very simple concept intended to address very serious and complex economic and social conditions. The ultimate goal is to improve the quality of life of community members through community initiated and supported economic and social activity which generates employment, wealth, community benefit and a great degree of self-esteem. Community is defined here as women who share a common view or ideology and interest in employment and crisis housing provisions. Through the development of women's enterprises, employment may be generated and profits channelled to the creation and operation of transition houses. CED provides a means for incremental change through planning, and specifically, women planning for women to take greater control of our lives. Having entered a "new reality" within this province complete with restraint and privatization and increasing unemployment with associated economic and social costs, CED appears increasingly favourable, particularly for women. Unemployment and violence is increasing while resources and solutions lacking. The opportunity to examine the potential of CED to meet the objectives as stated is provided through the development of a potential scenario and considerations which must be made to increase the probability of success. If women are to experiment with CED, thorough planning must occur within a long-term development strategy. CED is not easy and provides no quick-fix solution to the disadvantages women experience. When consideration of organizational activities, capacity levels and other factors required for success is undertaken, in addition to a realistic examination of the potential and obstacles for CED, good results may occur. CED should be approached both enthusiastically and cautiously. It is my hope that women's organizations will take up the challenge and test the potential. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate