I rise in the House today to reflect as a man on the various emotions and feelings that are set off by this kind of debate. There is joy and pride but also a sense of urgency when we reflect on the injustice suffered by women and their long struggle which is not over yet and must be taken up again every day.
I want to share this realization with my colleagues, with the women in the Bloc Quebecois, and I also want to salute all women and show my solidarity with their cause. I particulary want to salute our differences as men and women, our different ways of seeing, of feeling, of looking at problems, of approaching life and the joys it offers us. And I especially want to salute the women of the Eastern Townships whom I have met on many occasions in various organizations, and also the women in my riding who are very active in all areas as they usually are in our society. I want to salute all the women who were elected to the House of Commons, and especially my colleagues in the Bloc Quebecois. And I also want to say a special word to my women friends, whose friendship and understanding I have valued for so many years. Finally, I want to salute the love and understanding of the woman I cherish, and the birth of a child conceived in love.
In today's debate which is about women and women's rights on International Women's Day, I believe that men can bring to this debate an element of solidarity with all women.
In the course of my speech I would like to mention a few key moments in the history of women. I would like to start by saying that we have come a long way since March 8, 1875, when for the first time in North America, women rose up against male capitalism and went on strike, and I am referring to the garment workers strike in New York.
Since then, a series of laws have been passed, especially during the past 30 years, to promote women's equality in the home and in the economic, political and public spheres of our society.
In 1893, the first feminist association in Quebec was established: The Montreal Local Council of Women. After 14 years of struggle on the part of suffragettes, women obtained the right to vote in Quebec in 1940. The Fédération des femmes du Québec and the Women's Association for Education and Social Action arrived on the scene in 1966. International Women's Day was celebrated for the first time in Quebec on March 8, 1972. The following year, Quebec's Conseil du statut de la femme and the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women were created. During the 1980s, Quebec women moved confidently into various fields of endeavour. Buoyed by the experience of the women who came before them, they demanded that they be given a place in all sectors of activity traditionally reserved for men.
For example, not so long ago, it would have been unthinkable to have women practising certain trades or professions. Sexism was so prevalent that women were literally prevented from holding certain jobs which, more often than not, also happened to pay more. The fact that women today work in fields which were once the traditional domain of men is undoubtedly a major victory in the struggle for the recognition of women's equality. This victory shows that women are capable of performing jobs from which they were unfairly barred from generation to generation. If we were to take as an example the Eastern Townships, throughout the 1980s and in the early 1990s, we have seen women take their place within the labour force as scientific researchers, well-known authors, business leaders, bus drivers, police officers, surgeons, lawyers, engineers and so on.
We are approaching the next century and, at a time when a woman's right to vote, her right to an education and her right to obtain an abortion are recognized, and at a time when various charters of rights and freedoms prohibiting all forms of discrimination based on gender confirm that mores have indeed changed, we must ask ourselves the following questions: Have we achieved true equality between the sexes? Has society, in Quebec and Canada, achieved a gender balance which confirms
its emergence as mature, harmonious society? Unfortunately, the answer is no.
In the very brief history of women's liberation I just made, a very dark day stands out, a day on which hatred for women was expressed in a very violent way. In 1989, as everyone will remember, we were stunned by the massacre at the École Polytechnique in Montreal.
In spite of all the progress made, of the unanimous recognition of the right of women to decide for themselves, which was again and again reaffirmed, another message emerged. The game of life is played according to strictly male rules. As professor Maria de Konninck said, while she held the Chaire d'étude de la condition des femmes at Laval University, and I quote: "The progress made by women is based purely on deep structural changes which significantly affect the place women hold as a social group".
The truth is, even if women represent 52 per cent of voters, they still hold 66 per cent of part-time jobs, earn less than 70 per cent of wages paid to men and have only 15 per cent of the action-oriented jobs. According to a press release of the Canadian Department on the Status of Women, in 1993, less than 5 per cent of heads of state, CEO's of major corporations and leaders of international organizations were women. According to this same press release, women are poorly represented in executive positions and at the policy-making and decision-making levels.
Many polls conducted in the United States show that women keep saying that equality at work and at home is still one of their major concerns. Statisticians at the Roper Organization, an American statistical body, indicate that men's opposition to the equality of women is a major source of ill feelings, stress and irritation for most of women today. Also in the United States, towards the end of the last decade, the proportion of women who believed they were not getting equal career opportunities or equal pay reached 80 to 95 per cent.
Again in the States, during the same ten-year period, complaints of sexual harassment at work more than doubled. This situation is without any doubt alarming and harmful, since sexual harassments can affect the physical and psychological well-being of the victims. Earlier in today's debate, we heard an absolutely horrifying description of violence against women and, as a man, I feel-and I think that all hon. members will agree with me-that we must show zero tolerance for violence. This abuse of power is demoralizing and counter-productive and undermines the equality of the people affected, and eventually leads to the loss of competent workers and to a decrease in work productivity and efficiency.
In North America, the number of battered women taking refuge in special shelters jumped by 100 per cent between 1983 and 1987. Declared rapes have doubled since the early 1970s, are twice as common as other types of assault, and are increasing four times faster than the overall crime rate in the United States. While the homicide rate is down, sex murders have jumped by 160 per cent. In 1978, women were victims of violence in 10 per cent of Canadian homes; in 1993, there was a 25 per cent increase in that number.
This government's lack of family policy-I am almost finished-shows the electoral opportunism of its party platform and its lack of a long-term vision that could foster a real equality between men and women. These serious shortcomings bring into question the progress of women in Quebec and in Canada. As we have seen from the position taken by the minister today, we must wait another two years for wage equity in the public service; the men responsible for finance, for human resources, and for employment and immigration say that we must wait another two years. Where are the women in the party who will support the fact that action on pay equity is urgently needed in the public service?
In conclusion, Madam Speaker, to ensure a continued evolution towards role equality, freedom from all aggression, be it physical or psychological, and a balance crucial to the stability of Quebec society, and acknowledging that to be fair is to recognize our differences, the Bloc Quebecois, within its own perspective, which is Quebec's political autonomy, suggests we recognize and implement employment and pay equity, and concrete measures to redress and correct the distressing situation of women.
