Ontario Minimum Wage Orders for Women, 1955 & 1960

In May 2001, I found copies of these two regulations while exploring an abandoned garment factory on Duke Street in Kitchener, Ontario.

Minimum Wage Orders: Female (1955)

Minimum Wage Orders: Female (1960)

Notes

Overtime isn’t precisely defined, just as more than “the normal number of hours established by custom by an employer”. As well, women subject to these orders were paid for overtime at the normal hourly rate (order 5.1). (There is, however, a reference to another regulation governing the hours of work in order 15.)

It’s a little difficult to directly compare the minimum wage for men and women, since legislation for women was introduced first, as it was thought that they needed more protection. At the time these laws were written, wage protection legistation did exist for men, but it didn’t actually set a minimum legal wage. When minimum wages for men were eventually legislated, however, they were higher than for women.