The man who dared to do a woman's job

You could say he went from Tiger-Cats to tiger prints. 

In 1969, Barrie Williams was celebrating a year on the job as editor of the women's section at the Hamilton Spectator.

"What he is, is Canada's only full-time male women's editor," said CBC reporter Bill Casey, who apparently found Williams's position notable enough to be a news item.

For the five years before that, Williams had been a sports reporter in the Ontario city.

From miniskirts to deserted husbands

"There's a big difference of, say, going into a ladies' store than going into the Tiger-Cats dressing room after a game," said Williams. "You know, seeing [football player] Angelo Mosca in the suit he was born in."

As editor, Williams worked alongside six women to put together the section which, Casey said, tried to be "interesting to everyone."

"He's tackled such subjects as mini-skirts, alcoholic housewives, the Pill, deserted husbands and prostitution," said Casey. 

When offered the job, Williams didn't hesitate despite the drawbacks.

"He's lived down the snickers of the rest of the boys, who presented him with the keys to the women's washroom when he got the job," noted Casey.

'I think it's improved' 

And sometimes Williams had to "submerge" his own personal tastes to give way to what women wanted.

Pantsuits, for example, were something he didn't favour but featured in the newspaper because they were popular with his readers.

And his readers weren't all women.

"I've never read a ladies' page in my life, but since you've been involved in it I find myself glancing at it," Williams's friend Ralph Sazio, general manager of the Tiger-Cats football team, told him. "I think it's improved."

And Williams said taking on the job as women's page editor had changed his attitude to women.

"They're not to be treated as unequal," he said. "They can do as much as a man."