"For Msfion’t

Barbie dolls as an image to

strive for, be mommies, with ‘

easy-bake ovens, etc., while boys are encouraged to g9 with carpentry sets, trucks. etc.; all aid him in his fe- at.

we should be_questioning our educational system: i.e. sex-

ist literature, with women ‘depicted in the subordinate to the hero, or the sexual object to be conquered.

Most of all we should be questioning ourselves, as to whether we would be freer, more independent, more spon-

' taneous if we weren't women.

If the answer is yes, then it's time we did something, because if it's yes, then we' re oppressed.

If there is to be a cure (liberation) it lies not in occupying ourselves with trivialities: who lights wh- ose cigarettes, who uses ma— ke—up,etc., but in being the multi-dimensional people we are.

Cathy McNeill

Dear Ms.7

Having read a number of yo- ur articles on Women's Lib- eration I felt I had to wr- ite and voice my own opin- ions on the subject.

First of all -- what is all this trivia about make—up, hair rollers, door opening, cigarette lighting, etc., etc.? If a girl wants to wear make-up and curl her hair -— that's her business and to tell you the truth I really don't think she's doing it all for the opp- osite sex. After all,what girl with any self respect wants to go around in dow— dy old clothes looking like she just crawled out of bed? If she can "improve" her appearance by wearing make- up, etc. -- why not? Furth— ermore, when a male opens a door or lights a cigarette for a girl it does pg; mean that he has an "ulterior motive". I've had guys open doors for me who didn't know me from a hble in the wall -- I really don't think they had any "ulterior motives?

But as I've said before, the above are nothing but trivia! If you want to talk about how women are oppres- sed, why not talk about something of relevance and importance?

In doing some research on the subject for a sociology paper I have come up with some very sad facts about how women in this country are really oppressed. \

The present family system — the nuclear family — is one of the great oppressors of women and of people in gen- eral. Marriage is an instr— ument of coercion. It 18 a means by which society reg- ulates personal life, dec1- des which behaviour norms shall be imposed, etc. It

42:,

THE CADRE, TUEso, FEB. 26. 1974 Page 5

places the man—woman relat— ionship in a special categ- ory from other human bonds and makes impossible the tr- ue friendship which can on- ly come about between equals. Sexual need, so long as 1t is morally acceptable with- in marriage only: remains the principle reason for marriage for males. The wo- man therefore is not an eq— ual, but an object of the man's needs.

The protection which the present system provides to dependent persons (namely women), merely continues th- eir dependency and limits & narrows the lives of all co- ncerned._It keeps the man with his nose to the grind- stone and the woman labour— ing with no pay at all.... her work in the home appears to have no material value & can never get as much resp- ect as that of the male.

The work force is another oppressor of women. In this day and age a college degree of some sort is usually re— quired for a high paying job. However, in many families_in Canada in provinces where student loans are difficult to get -- boys are given pr- eference when it comes to ‘ educational funds.i0nly a— bout one in three recipients of a BA or MA is a female. Of all working women only about 13% are professionals and most of these are teach— ers and nurses. Finally, something like 1% of the to- tal labour force actually are the career women found

in occupations normally con- sidered masculine. Looking at both men and women who do not have college degrees,

it is the woman who suffers more from lack of employment choices. There are still so- me high paying jobs avail- able to men without college in the skilled trades -- which are always called men's jobs. With only a high sch— ool diploma, a woman will almost certainly wind up be- hind a typewriter or a swit- chboard.

To conclude —- I would like to point out that the gov- ernment is also an oppressor of women. In its 1972 report on the status of women the Royal Commission stated that "it was not its goal to fo- rce women to wor ", but it is the working women of whom it speaks when it sums up its objective: "that she sh- are in the responsibility to society as well as its priveleges and prerogatives". There is the distinct sugg— estion that women in trad- itional roles have not sha- red responsibilities in the past. They have treated the childless married woman at home as a 'social parasite'! Therefore, Dear Ms., I th- ink you would find it more worthwhile to concentrate on items of the sort I have just mentioned. I would th- ink that it would be much more rewarding than worrying about being oppressed because you wore a little make-up today or because a guy lit your cigarette yesterday!!

Leslie Lambie