Keeping Women in Their Place
The Minimum Wage in Canada, 1910-25
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3982524 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Margaret E Mccallum (University of Toronto, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1986 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Pages | 29 |
| Publication date | 1986-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Labour / Le Travail (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0700-3862 • E-ISSN: 1911-4842 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/25142592 |
| OpenAlex | W1489326186 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
LABOUR UNREST AND DEMANDS for social reform during and immediately after World War I prompted most provincial governments in Canada to enact limited minimum wage statutes, aplicable only to female wage-earners in specified industries. Minimum wage boards issued separate wage orders for each industry, after consultation with representative employers and employees. The standard for the minimum wage was decent subsistence for a single woman with no dependants and no need to save for sickness, layoffs, or old age. The Ontario Minimum Wage Board, established in 1920, insisted that if a minimum wage was a real minimum, employers did not object to paying it, or to cooperating with the board. To insure employer cooperation, the board provided employers with ample opportunity to present their views, but generally accepted employers' views over those of labour. Minimum wage statutes were justified not on the basis of a wage-earner's right to a fair wage, but on women's special needs as the mothers of the future generation; the Ontario Minimum Wage Board expressed a similar attitude towards women in its administration of the Ontario Act. LES CONFLITS DR travail et les revendications sociales pendant et immediatement apres la Premiere guerre mondiale pousserent la plupart des gouvernements provinciaux du Canada a adopter certaines lois regissant le salaire minimum des travailleuses dans des industries determinees, apres consultation avec les representants des employeurs et des employees. Le salaire minimum etait base sur les moyens de subsistance necessaires a une femme celibataire sans personne a charge et sans besoin d'economiser pour un conge de maladie, un congediement, ou pour sa retraite. Quand la Commission du Salaire Minimum de l'Ontario, creee en 1920, insista pour que le salaire minimum constitue un veritable minimum, les employeurs n'eurent aucune objection a payer ce salaire ni a collaborer avec la commission. Pour s'assurer l'appui des employeurs, la commission leur fournit l'occasion d'exprimer leurs vues et eut tendance a accepter leurs recommandations plutot que celles des travail-leurs(euses). La justification pour les lois du salaire minimum des femmes ne reposaient pas sur le droit des travailleuses a un salaire raisonnable mais plutot sur les besoins specifiques des femmes en tant que meres des generations a venir; ce fut l'attitude adoptee par la Commission du Salaire Minimum de l'Ontario dans l'administration de la legislation sur le salaire feminin
Economics · Geography · Labour economics · Minimum wage · Political science · Statute · Subsistence agriculture · Wage · Canadian Identity and History · Law
The Limits of Reform
Corporate Welfarism in Canada, 1919–39
Postmodern Patchwork
Making ends meet’ by renting homes to strangers
What Is a Minimum Wage For? Empirical Results and Theories of Justice
Women, wealth and economic change
Working People in Alberta
The Employment Standards Enforcement Gap and the Overtime Pay Exemption in Ontario
| Citations per year | 0.21 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1987 - 2021 (35) |
| Highly cited | No |