World war two had a positive impact in building a path towards womans equality in Canada. Prior to world war two women had only been viewed as stay at home mothers. The stereotypical, perfect family had the father that brought home the money each day during the week and the mother who raised their children. The fact of the matter is, women always worked outside the house but it just wasn’t publisised as much. These women were usually in the lower class or the minority and many men did not have the best attitude toward them. A male could better suit their jobs, the men believed. During WWII all of this changed and a revolution in the work force was eventually seen.
Numbers of women working outside the home rose exponentially and they thought they were there to stay. Women also played a large role in the military, which had never been seen before. Gender roles had changed in the modern world women throughout the nation made a huge impact on the Second World War efforts. Prior to world war to womans jobs in the military where limited to nursing.
many Canadian woman wantedto play an active role in the war and lobbied to form military organizations for woman. In 1941, the Canadian Women’s Army Corps and the Royal Canadian Air Force were formed, and in 1942 the Royal Canadian Naval Women’s Service . Although woman were excluded from combat, they had a variety of jobs such as truck drivers, administration, nursing , along with many others. The military women also set an example for the future of Canadian women in the military forces. In 1946, the women’s services disbanded. During WWII, more than 50,000 militaryOne of the largest contribution made by Canadian women to the war effort came through their unpaid labour in the home and in “volunteer” work.
Almost immediately after Canada’s entry into the war, women across Canada took the initiative, founding organizations to coordinate women’s volunteer war work. Only in September 1942 did Ottawa step in and take over the direction of this work, appropriating a name already in use in Ontario—Women’s Voluntary Services. The federal WVS introduced a Block Plan in the larger urban centres to organize house-to-house canvassing and collection. Local WVS centres participated in a wide range of national programs, distributing ration cards, recruiting and training volunteer staff in wartime day nurseries, promoting the sale of war bonds and encouraging the sewing, knitting, quilting and packing of “ditty bags” for the servicemen and women overseasThe war saw extreamly high female involvement in the work place as well as the military. 261,000 were involved in the production of war goods, 30% of the aircraft industry workers were female, and as well as almost 50% of employees in gun plants. Women took on a whole new life during world war 2 , as soon as the war was started, woman were desperatley needed in the workforce after thousands of job vancancies opened up when the men went to war.
Women were encouraged to leave their traditional house-wife roles of cooking, cleaning, and raising the children to work in munitions factories. The government provided free daycares for mothers. Although women where earning more then they had beennbefore the war, workers in munition factories were still getting paid as little as half the wadges of men doing similar jobs. working conditions where often unsafe and in order to keep pace with demand from the front line 12 hour shifts where common and some woman worked up to two weeks off without a day off, but it was a start. By the end of the war, women were expected to go back to their traditional roles.
This was encouraged by the government by taking away free daycare.Women’s involvement in the Second World War left a motivating example for women and was the major beginning of the breaking of gender distinctions in Canada. They set themselves apart by becoming involved in the military forces for the first time, breaking stereotypes, and
