Angels of the Workplace: Women and the Construction of Gender Relations in the Canadian Clothing Industry, 1890-1940 (The Canadian Social History Series)

In this renowned 1997 study of the clothing industry in Canada, Mercedes Steedman examines how the intricate weaving together of the meanings of class, gender, ethnicity, family, and the workplace created a job ghetto for women. Although women comprised a significant majority of garment workers, their roles were limited both in the workplace and in the trade union bureaucracy. Detailing the disparaties between men and women in terms of wages and representation, Angels of the Workplace is the definitive history of discrimination against women in Canada's clothing industry. Steedman shows the crucial role that women played at the front of the picket lines during labour strikes and reveals how they gained sympathy and favourable media coverage for the workers' cause. Tracing both the new hopes for more equitable work brought about by left-wing unionism, and the disappointments caused by the cooperation of labour and management in the "new unionism" of the 1930s, Angels of the Workplace reveals how formalized workplace gender discrimination was formalized for the rest of the century. In this study of the clothing industry in Canada, historian Mercedes Steedman examines how the intricate weaving together of the meanings of class, gender, ethnicity, family, and workplace served, often unconsciously, to create a job ghetto for women. Although 'girls', as working women were labelled, comprised a significant majority of garment workers - 80 per cent in 1881, at the very beginnings of industrialization; 68 per cent in 1941, when the percentage of women in all industrial sectors in Canada was only just over 15 per cent - their roles were circumscribed both in the workplace and in the trade union bureaucracy. When strikes occurred, women were at the front of picket lines, gaining sympathy and favourable media coverage for the workers' cause. But when negotiations among union leaders, management, and government officials took place, women were conspicuous by their absence, and the subsequent agreements and job classifications invariably left them with lower wages and marginal status - in an industry where they were numerically dominant and often valued as the better workers. In Angels of the Workplace, Professor Steedman presents a history of both the garment industry and the role of women in it. The rise of left-wing unionism held out some hope for a more equitable work environment, but by the 1930s a 'new unionism' that focused on labour-management co-operation - and on maintaining male hegemony on the shop floor and at the bargaining table - had formalized gender discrimination in the needle trades for the rest of the century. Contents 5 Acknowledgements 7 Abbreviations 10 1. Introduction: Across The Great Divide 11 2. The Industrial Fields Of Activity: Send Forth Your Daughters 22 3. Worlds Apart: Women And Unions In The Needle Trades, 1890–1920 63 4. From Shop-Floor Action To New Unionism: The War Years And After 96 5. Taking A Stand: Civil War In The Needle Trades 120 6. ‘A Real Man’S Fight’: Clothing Battles In The Depression Years 152 7. When The Boys Get Together: Orchestrating Consent 200 8. After The Acts: Setting The Standards, Putting On The Pressure 229 9. Conclusion: ‘This Group Of Girls And Men...’ 264 Notes 271 Index 330

this Book Tries To Explain The Subtle Dynamics Of Gender Discrimination That Pervaded The Needle Trades. The Interaction Of Gender And Ethnic Culture Provide A Backdrop To The Volatile Lives Of Men And Women Who Worked These Trades In The First Half Of This Century.