International Women’s Day

A daughter of a hard rock miner at Inco a Canadian Mining company in Sudbury Ontario. She followed in her father’s footsteps, not as a miner but an hourly rated Refinery worker at Inco. At nineteen, Cathy Mulroy was hired at mining giant Inco and became one of the first women to work there since the war years in a non-traditional job. In 1930, legislation stated it was too dangerous for women to do this work. The laws changed during the war years, but all 1400 women lost their jobs when the war ended, and women were no longer legally employable in mining operations. Laws changed again, and in 1974 Inco hired a few women. Cathy was one of them. The company didn’t want them there. The men didn’t want them there, and their wives certainly didn’t, either.