Canadian women during World War II

Thèmes abordés

Canadian women, World War II, RCAF, Canada

Résumé du document

Women played a crucial role during World War II in North America. For the first time, Canadian women were allowed to enlist and many of them joined the Women's division of the RCAF, the Women's Royal Canadian naval Service or the Canadian Women's Division in the Army" (the CWACS). Though they could not officially fight in front line, they showed bravery. In fact all the women were expected to do much more than just cooking and housework. The country's economy relied on them. In 1939, 63 800 women were in the work force, and in 1944 they were more than 1 077,000. They seemed to be more equal to men than they had ever been before. However the average Canadian woman's condition was far from being perfect and they had to face many hardships.

When the war broke out, Canada was not out of the" Depression era" yet. In 1940, out of a population of 11 million inhabitants, approximately 900,000 workers were unemployed, and only 20% of them were women. In fact, unemployment stood at almost ten percent of the labor force . Many families were suffering from that situation. By 1941 Canada had to face a manpower shortage. There were not enough workers as many men had enlisted and to remedy this lack, women were asked to participate in the war effort. They were regarded as being a large labor reserve . First, single women were encouraged to get a full time job. On September 8, 1942, all the women aged between twenty and twenty-four were required to register. However married women with children were at first not encouraged to work.

Extraits

[...] They also gave most of their pans to help producing more planes. Children saved the foil from their candy packages[8]. Products were rationed and luxury items were almost impossible to buy. Women were supposed to be feminine but they could hardly find any cosmetics, perfumes or even stockings. They had to find tricks to look attractive without those items: “Stockings were very hard to get . Did you know we used to paint our legs, to make them look as if we were wearing stockings? [...]

[...] Sue Ward, in her memoirs declared that some women succeeded in hiding their pregnancy[23]. They were nevertheless forced to abandon their babies when they were born. Single mothers were rejected from their family and from society[24]. Many women chose to rely on illegal and secret abortion. This is confirmed in Sergeant Sue Ward memories[25]. Women in the army were not taught how to avoid being infected from venereal diseases to the contrary of men[26]. Male soldiers were asked to stay away from women who could transmit diseases. [...]

[...] Many Canadian women had gained status. They did not depend on their husbands anymore, and they were now earning a living. Many married women were able to leave their homes and their kitchens. In fact, the women working in factories did not only work for the love of their country; some worked to support their families. In 1943, The Women's division of the Toronto Employment and Employment Service ran a questionnaire on married female applicants. The purpose of this questionnaire was to understand why women had joined the work force of the women indicated patriotic motives “desire to supplement family income”, and 32% “personal needs”[10]. [...]

[...] Women during the war had gained special rights. They had proved that they were able to do men's work and that they could be relied on. They could be good soldiers and fight for their country. They felt they were more than pretty smiling dolls. Their attitude had also changed. For example at “Canada sixty per cent of the workers were women, and so “wolf whistles” greeted every good-looking man who walked through the factory[30].This was completely new behaviour. Those women were not ready to go back peacefully to their kitchens but as the war ended more and more men returned to civilian and took back the jobs they occupied before the war. [...]

[...] First, single women were encouraged to get a full time job. On September all the women aged between twenty and twenty-four were required to register. However married women with children were at first not encouraged to work[3] . Women were encouraged to join the working force through the massive use of advertisement campaigns. One Newspaper advertisement in 1943 said: need more and more women to take full or part time war work . Even if you can only spare an hour or two a day, you will be making an important contribution to the War effort”[4]. [...]