Note: Éva Circé-Côté was an important Quebec feminist militantpersonne qui défend les droits d’une personne ou d’un groupe. In 1903, she founded Montreal’s first public Library. For a long time, Circé-Côté was a contributor to a union newspaper. She had to use a male name to be able to get her articles published. The following extract is one of these. According to Circé-Côté, why should women earn the same pay as men?
Extract:
“Why aren’t women who do work as difficult as that of men not paid the same? The feminist issue has become an economic issue. Women today no longer have to fight for the right to work, and soon they might have to fight for the right to rest. What women want is equal pay for equal work. One thing is for sure, if there are more women working everywhere, they are not being paid any better and certainly not as well as men…Why such unequal pay for the same work? Such injustices cannot go unnoticed by anyone interested in the economic equality of women. It is a disparity in work that should result in a disparity in salary. However, when the work of women is as long, as difficult and productive as that of men why are they not as well-paid as men?”
Source of extract: Free translation of Éva Circé-Côté, «Travail égal – salaire égal», Le Monde ouvrierpersonne qui travaille avec ses mains (souvent dans une usine), 25 août 1917. p. 1.
