The Impact Of World War II On Canadian Women

As Canada entered World War II on September 10, 1939, the rise for women’s participation in the war effort increased significantly. The economic and social change from World War II influenced Canadian women to assume diverse responsibilities to support the Allies. During this time, women employment was temporary and only encouraged throughout the war. However, by assuming the non-traditional roles left behind by many men as they left to fight in the war, Canadian women were major contributors to the war effort. These women challenged the existing social belief of distinct gender roles through the work they accomplished, helping improve women’s rights in the future. This transitional period in history briefly abandoned traditional gender roles,

which hindered the social and economic progress of all Canadian women. Canadian women played a vital role during World War II by working in factories, aiding in military as soldiers and medical relief, and volunteering on the homefront, thus influencing the Allied victory and reflecting changing cultural values in Canadian society.
Women’s movements organized struggles for equality.

Such movements have been inspired by feminism, the belief that women should have political, social and economic equality with men. Feminists have sought equal legal rights, voting rights, and access to political office for women. They have demanded that women be able to enjoy an equal social status and have an equal access to public facilities, schools, and private organizations. They have fought to give women equal opportunities for jobs, pay, and promotions. Feminism in Canada was stimulated largely by the labor force demand in factory industries during the World Wars. During the growth of factory industries, a middle class arose with values that prevented women from working outside of the home. Consequently, they were completely dependent on their husbands’ income for survival. Many middle-class women were aware of this dependence and as a result, some took action through feminist causes. While social values did not keep working-class wives from taking jobs outside the home. According to Roberta Hamilton, in feudal and capitalist societies, “women have always had to support their families”. Therefore, many working-class wives were forced to take jobs in factories to be able to provide for their families. They usually received very low wages and worked under horrible conditions. Consequently, the working-class women attempted to take full advantage of the new opportunities and options that the war environment provided,

leading to changing attitudes toward employment.
Civilian women entered the labor force, often in traditional male roles in factory jobs, on farms, and other non-traditional industries. Throughout the 19th century, factory work took up much of the labor force. War production plants offered 40 percent higher wages than traditional female roles such as cleaning or waitressing, enticing many women to trade up from their lower-paying jobs. Early in the war, most who did this were blue-collar women who were already in the workforce in 1940— working class wives, divorcees, widows and students. Girls worked under terrible conditions for low wages and long hours. For about 60 hours a week, they would make 80 cents. Due to the lack of jobs available for women, women only made up 13% of the labor force. Men feared that employing large numbers of women would undercut their wages and change women’s traditional roles. In World War I, women did replace the men who went to fight in the war. However, the labor shortage was not as severe enough to require a large amount of women working. After the war ended, women were encouraged to leave the work force.
Due to the depression of the 1930’s and the massive demand of labor brought upon by the economic crisis from World War II, employers began recruiting women again for non-traditional jobs. Approximately 900 000 Canadians were unemployed and with the increasing demand for labor during the war, the government turned to Canadian women to contribute. The Canadian women “are the most important single factor of the program”, according to Prime Minister Mackenzie King when the National Selective Service was established. Initially, the National Selective Service aimed at recruiting unmarried women but by 1943, it became mandatory for married and unmarried women in their early 20’s to contribute. These women were the first group to be recruited to the paid labor force. The need for women became so great that some provinces even changed their legislation so more women could enter the labor force. Slowly the labor force began to dwindle. So forms of propaganda from the media and government were used to convince women to get a job and serve their patriotic duty. However, the advances women were making in the employment field led the government to fear the traditional gender role change in the long-term, since some women would be reluctant to leave the work field at the end of war. The propaganda used by the government made it clear that women would return to their usual duties after they served their patriotic duty. Women comprised 22% of the total labor force by the 1950’s. However, once women experienced life outside society’s traditional restraints, they did not wish to solely return to their previous duties. In the work place, women were challenged with opposition from male co-workers. Many women faced sexual harassment regardless of the field they worked in. Nevertheless, this opposition did not deter them from completing their work.
With the shortage in soldiers starting in 1941, women were allowed to serve the military in non-combat roles in the air force, army, and navy sectors. There were three main groups known as the women’s division of the Royal Canadian Air Force, Canadian Women’s Army Corps, and the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Services. Within these groups, women were paid much less than their male counterparts. This discrepancy caused aggravation amongst the women, until the rate later rose to 80 per cent of men’s pay most, when most women were satisfied. During World War II, women’s services were initially listed as auxiliaries but progressed into actual branches of their respective sectors. The wartime bureaucracy later allowed for women to be recognized as official members of the military. During the war, many women joined the assembly lines, manufacturing clothes and boots for soldiers, or working at munitions plants and aircraft factories—all of which became invaluable to Allied success.
The Royal Canadian Air Force began employing women in the summer of 1941. They created a component called the Canadian Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. Women were received two-thirds the pay of Air Force officers and airmen, which increased to four fifths in July 1943. Although the members were subject to air force regulations, they were not full members. Men and women worked under similar conditions, however, their discipline and welfare were left to the officers in the Women’s Division as they had their separate system of ranks. The application of discipline was not equal to the men since women were not placed in detention as punishment. Instead women would be given extra duties or fines of some sort. This inequality led to dissatisfaction among airmen. Throughout the war, almost 17 000 women served in the Women’s Division of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
The Canadian army had been considering the creation of some type of women’s organization since the outbreak of the war but they did not take action until there was a shortage of manpower. On August 13, 1941, the Canadian Women’s Army Corps was officially formed. Military staff proposed that the women’s corps be made part of the active army so that more effective control could be exercised over it since this sector was given its own separate system of ranks and regulations. This request was carried out in March 1943. In the Canadian Women’s Army Corps, women were given a very limited choice of jobs including accounting, answering phone calls, canteen services, etc. However, as the war went on, new trades opened for women and the chance to advance to new positions. The women who went overseas also dealt with regular inspections. One woman recalls the tedious task of going through inspections, “we are confined to the barracks for some infraction of the regulation, hair on collars, buttons not shines, shoes not shines, skirts too long…” Over the course of the war more than 21 000 women joined the Army Corps. Each of them contributed majorly to the outcome of World War II.
Like the previous two sectors, the Royal Canadian Naval rejected the idea of employing women. This decision was revoked in May 1942 when the Minister of National Defense for Naval Services declared that women could take on a range of duties. Unlike the other two sectors, the women’s branch was an integral part of the Royal Canadian Navy. Naval women replaced men in trades such as cooks, stewards, drivers, launder workers, etc. Near the end of the war they were able to further their training so they could do a variety of new trades.
The Women’s Division of the Royal Canadian Air Force, Canadian Women’s Army Corps, and the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service all started out as low paying, tedious jobs. As the war progressed, so did those trades. Women were given more opportunities to advance within the military. By the end of World War II, approximately 50 000 Canadian women had served in these three organizations. Another group who worked to serve the military were Canadian Women in the medical services. A short period of training was mandatory for all nurses wishing to serve in the army. Nurses worked under each of the three military sectors open to women. Nurses worked in harsh conditions for long hours. After the Second World War ended on September 2, 1945, these three women’s organizations were shut down then later reestablished during the Cold War.
A major aspect of the home front in Canada that contributed to the roles of women during the war was volunteering and unpaid work. Women lead local community efforts during WWII, including joining volunteer organizations, rationing and recycling, aiding in civil defense, and supporting the war bond effort. Women were still responsible for traditional domestic duties, and as such, were able to play an important role in rationing and recycling in order to aid the war effort. So many women joined volunteer organizations during the war. Women from groups like the Women’s Voluntary Services Division and the National War Services salvaged supplies such as metals, rags, paper, bones, rubber, and glass to recycle. Then these items would be collected and sent to where they were needed by the Women’s Voluntary Services Division. The Women’s Voluntary Services was created in 1942 in Ontario. It specializes in coordinating volunteer work for the war. As a result, the government paid less money to have these supplies built and focused on spending more money on the war effort. Women organized fundraisers to raise money and awareness for the war. In the final two years of the war, Canadian volunteers raised over half a million dollars. Along with scavenging, women also worked on sending care packages to people in the allied troops. These care packages included items such as clothing, helmets, and hygiene products.
Conclusively, women contributed to a great extent the transformation in traditional societal roles by entering the labor force, serving in the military and assisting community efforts—all of which significantly influenced Canadian victory overseas.

New opportunities opened up for women that were never available before. By working for wages, women were able to work on rebuilding the economy. By volunteering their time, women were able to help on the homefront. They gathered supplies and organized fundraisers that proved very useful for the war effort. Women also took up jobs left behind by the soldiers who went to fight overseas. Although initially many rejected the idea of enlisting women into the Canadian military, they quickly changed their mind when they realized women were more than capable of reaching out and succeeding into the spheres of male roles. Through organizations such as Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service, the Canadian Women’s Air Corps, the Women’s Division of the Royal Canadian Air Force, women also proved themselves militarily. Women were recruited out of necessity and encouraged to leave domestic duties to play a more important role in the economy, allowing them to redefine traditional gender roles through their involvement in the work force. The role of women in modern society is constantly changing. With every new generation, ideas of societal norms are altered and adapted to fit the values of the accepted culture of that time. Would our present

societal gender norms for women in the workforce be possible without the evolvement of women in the 20th century?