Music For A While
Wednesday March 8th, 2023 with David Cavlovic
Cecilia Resounding: Celebrating women in music on International Women’s Day

When I was a kid in Toronto back in the 1970's the Toronto Transit Commission was finally, after much shaming and cajoling, hiring the first women transit operators in over thirty years. Women had been hired to drive streetcars and buses during the Second World War since there was a shortage of men who went off to fight. Once the war was over, the women were told, literally, to go back home and look after their menfolk. The last women driver was let go in 1947. Flash forward to the 1970's. I remember the first time I got on a bus operated by a woman. I thought it was cool, and so did practically everyone on the bus. Then we pulled up to a bus stop where at the front of the line was a burly middle-aged construction worker from a European background that still had set opinions about women and their place (which, to be honest, was most of Europe, and yes, the Americas as well, at the time). As soon as the front door opened and he caught a glimpse of the woman driver, he immediately refused to get on the bus. No he was "not gonna let no woman" drive him around. To the credit of the passengers, he was heckled by those of us on board (which could seem mean, but boy was his learned misogyny shining through). This only made him more resolute in his stance. Eventually those in line behind him yelled at him to get out of the way so they get board the bus. I gotta say, when left behind he looked like he couldn't understand really what had just happened. I hope over time (maybe he had daughters) he learned to accept change. Otherwise, he was bound to miss a heck of a lot of buses....