Forget the Pride: It's All Prejudice
Throughout history, there have been numerous cases of racism, sexism and anti-semitism. However, prejudice reached an all-time high during the Great Depression and Second World War.
Personally, I wonder if there’s ever been a time without prejudice? I’d like to take some time to consider where this inequality, stereotyping and feeling of superiority came from, how it may have been prevented, and how we can take action and challenge ourselves to rid ourselves of prejudice once and for all.
During the Great Depression, unemployment soared. Since women’s rights had only improved a decade earlier, men perceived themselves as superior to women. They thought they were stronger, more responsible, more capable of holding a job than a woman, and therefore deserved employment more than a girl did. Due to that mindset, men made up a whopping 75% of Canada’s workforce during the 1930s.(1)
Not only were they unemployed, but women were given a fraction of the benefits that their male family members received. Men had “held greater claim to economic resources for longer through time” and were therefore considered immediately more “qualified” than women, despite age or years of experience.(2) Women were excluded from Prime Minister R.B. Bennett’s “New Deal” work programs(3) so more, better jobs could go to men who could “do a better job.” Female workers were also paid 30% less than their male counterparts.(4)
A 1930s news article in the Seattle Times stated, “It is fairly obvious that the chance of a man to get a job may be delayed if a woman gets it first.”(5) That statement biased the mindsets of employers and employees, as employers didn’t want to hire women if it would prevent them from being able to hire men, and men didn’t want women to work, as it would prevent themselves from being able to find employment.
Now, this was challenged at the time. Women who were still in work were proving they were just as capable as their male counterparts. Women outside of work were fighting to get jobs, originally to help support their families; however, the women hired kept their jobs for years to come, increasing the number of women in the workforce.
I don’t have any doubt that women will stay considered equals to men, but to ensure we remain that way for the infinite future, we need to realize that gender doesn’t define capability, responsibility or success. Experience, mentality, education and skill are the defining factors. They can be taught to and achieved by anyone, regardless of gender. So long as that is remembered, women will be recognized with the same rights and capabilities as men. Not superior or inferior, but equal.
Take this quiz to find out if YOU could survive a Great Depression!
https://www.blogthings.com/couldyousurviveanothergreatdepressionquiz/
On the topic of superiority, since the first invasion of Canada, the First Nations people have been treated as inferiors by European-ancestored Canadians.
Racism against the First Nations people stemmed from their resistance when France, then later Britain, conquered and expanded Canada.
However, in the modern day, it’s a little more complicated. First Nations People are plagued by problems that make Canadians think they are superior, yet it is due to Canadians’ lack of finding solutions that the Aboriginals continue to have such issues, including a lower life expectancy, fewer high school graduates, higher unemployment, twice as many infant deaths, lower incomes and fewer promotions than the average non-Indigenous Canadian.(6)
Luckily, many of these can be reversed if Canadians help with just one predicament, as they have a ripple effect that will solve not just that single problem, but many. A lower life expectancy and higher infant mortality rate can be linked to lack of or inadequate health care. However, all provinces have government-funded health care, which, if extended to First Nations people, will solve both those problems immediately. In addition to that, since companies would sooner hire a well-educated graduate than a high school dropout and generally pay more for skill and experience, offering government-funded education to Indigenous people will lead to more high school graduates and therefore less unemployment, higher incomes and more promotions.
Because of our assistance, First Nations people will be grateful to the rest of Canada, and since they’ll have fewer issues, Canadians will have fewer things to look down upon them for, lowering tensions between the groups. Therefore, we must put effort into helping the Indigenous people solve their problems if we want to dissolve our prejudices.
Yet some of the atrocities that Canadians implemented on the First Nations People during the 1930s and 1940s were absolutely unforgivable. In addition to Aboriginal children being imprisoned in residential schools, isolated from society and tortured into assimilation, six places across five provinces(7) went above and beyond “standard” torture. They conducted experiments on children, including trials for a tuberculosis vaccine and experimental surgeries deemed illegal for non-Indigenous people.(8) Tragically, the test subjects died. To cover this up, and because the Government didn’t want to pay for proper burials, the children were buried in unmarked graves, forgotten.(9) This horrific treatment is unknown to most Canadians, but we must educate ourselves on the atrocities our country committed in the past so they won’t be repeated in the future.
The most famous prejudice of the Second World War was Hitler’s hatred of the Jews. Though it stemmed from Germany, anti-semitism spread through the world like wildfire. Unfortunately, Canada followed the rest of the world’s lead, listening to the racist bias spread through international propaganda media.
Originally, hatred towards the Jewish population was because they were successful merchants, commercially trading. Envious lesser class families thought the Jews were the epitome of an issue enveloping the world at the time: capitalism.(10)
Once there was one group of people to pin blame on, the Jews became an easy target. They were called war profiteers. Hoarders. Communist subversives.(11) With so many problems twisted to make it seem like the Jews were antagonists, it made it easy for Hitler to pinpoint one subversive group to target.
Fuelling the fire, the media highlighted the Jews as a “foreign element which could potentially dominate the native German population both economically and politically.”(12) Countries internationally believed this. They’d seen the success of the Jews financially and didn’t want to jeopardize their citizens’ economic and personal financial successes. They wanted to blame all their financial woes on the Jews so they wouldn’t have to blame themselves for any monetary problems.
Though it should not have been the case, I see why Canada followed the rest of the world’s example. Had they taken a stand opposite to that of their fellow Allied countries, Canada could have been labeled as a traitor for not agreeing with the countries it had sworn to agree with, causing complications within the Allied forces.
However, they definitely should have done more. Even if Canada didn’t want to support the Jews during the war, they could have taken in refugees before it began. Granted, Canada did accept a few Jewish refugees in the 1930s, approximately 5000.(13) However, Australia offered asylum to 15,000 people, Britain to 70,000, and the United States to 200,000 Jews.(14) Had Canada agreed to take in just two times the amount of refugees it did, they would’ve saved another 6% of the Jews murdered in the genocide.
Today, we need to put our efforts into becoming leaders. We must believe in what we think is right, not follow the rest of the world’s suggestions. Now, one of the United Nations’ permanent Vito Powers’ voices can change the entire playing field. If one person takes charge, says “this isn’t right” like they should’ve done seventy years ago, they could heavily influence, if not completely reverse, the rest of the world’s views about what to do to minorities, races, religions and groups. We have the power to prevent another genocide, another Holocaust, if we just have the courage to stand up for what we know is right.
Check out this mesmerizing 7-minute time-lapse video showing the progression of World War Two from start to finish!
Then, watch this tear-jerking video about the casualties of the war, from military to civilians, and Americans to Brits to Germans to Jews.
Finally, copy this link to be taken to an interactive website and learn everything there possibly is to know about World War 2, from life in the war to deaths due to war, and find out about battles taking place in Europe, Asia, the Atlantic, North America, and all over the world!
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/worldwar2/
Unfortunately, there has been no shortage of prejudice, racism and anti-semitism in Canada. Though it has been around for as long as history can remember, it rose to an all-time high throughout the 1930s and 40s. We need to remember that people are all equal, regardless of gender, colour, race or ethnicity, to prevent horrors such as inequality, concentration, reformation and genocide from repeating themselves. We have the power to change the world. Let’s take advantage of that.
1. McMahon, Kathy. "The Invisible Women of the Great Depression." Peak Oil Blues. January 14, 2009. Accessed December 07, 2016. http://www.peakoilblues.org/blog/2009/01/14/the-invisible-women-of-the-great-depression/.
2. McMahon, Kathy. "The Invisible Women of the Great Depression." Peak Oil Blues. January 14, 2009. Accessed December 07, 2016. http://www.peakoilblues.org/blog/2009/01/14/the-invisible-women-of-the-great-depression/.
3. McMahon, Kathy. "The Invisible Women of the Great Depression." Peak Oil Blues. January 14, 2009. Accessed December 07, 2016. http://www.peakoilblues.org/blog/2009/01/14/the-invisible-women-of-the-great-depression/.
4. "World War II: 1939-1945." Striking Women. Accessed December 07, 2016. http://www.striking-women.org/module/women-and-work/world-war-ii-1939-1945
5. "World War II: 1939-1945." Striking Women. Accessed December 07, 2016. http://www.striking-women.org/module/women-and-work/world-war-ii-1939-1945
6. Hutchings, Claire. "The Legacy of Institutional Racism." Canada’s First Nations: The Legacy of Institutional Racism. Accessed December 07, 2016. http://www.tolerance.cz/courses/papers/hutchin.htm.
7. Barrera, Jorge. "First Nation Infants Subject to "human Experimental Work" for TB Vaccine in 1930s-40s." APTN National News. July 24, 2013. Accessed December 07, 2016. http://aptn.ca/news/2013/07/24/first-nation-infants-subject-to-human-experimental-work-for-tb-vaccine-in-1930s-40s/.
8. Barrera, Jorge. "First Nation Infants Subject to "human Experimental Work" for TB Vaccine in 1930s-40s." APTN National News. July 24, 2013. Accessed December 07, 2016. http://aptn.ca/news/2013/07/24/first-nation-infants-subject-to-human-experimental-work-for-tb-vaccine-in-1930s-40s/.
9. Barrera, Jorge. "First Nation Infants Subject to "human Experimental Work" for TB Vaccine in 1930s-40s." APTN National News. July 24, 2013. Accessed December 07, 2016. http://aptn.ca/news/2013/07/24/first-nation-infants-subject-to-human-experimental-work-for-tb-vaccine-in-1930s-40s/.
10. Weiss, Suzanne. "The Three Faces of Anti-Jewish Prejudice." Nion.ca. Accessed December 07, 2016. http://www.nion.ca/read-more-weiss.htm.
11. "Antisemitism in History: Nazi Antisemitism." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Accessed December 07, 2016. https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007167.
12. Grobman, Gary M. "Stereotypes and Prejudices." The Holocaust History - A People's and Survivor History. 1990. Accessed December 07, 2016. http://remember.org/guide/history-root-stereotypes.
13. Grobman, Gary M. "Stereotypes and Prejudices." The Holocaust History - A People's and Survivor History. 1990. Accessed December 07, 2016. http://remember.org/guide/history-root-stereotypes.
14. Grobman, Gary M. "Stereotypes and Prejudices." The Holocaust History - A People's and Survivor History. 1990. Accessed December 07, 2016. http://remember.org/guide/history-root-stereotypes.
