World War Women

Twenty years later, Canada was once again at war. By 1943, one fifth of all 1,050,000 war workers were women, and their work was receiving the acknowledgement it deserved, versus the radio silence that surrounded the still socially iffy war-work done by women in WWI. The Honourable J.T. Thorson, Minister of National War services, stated that “[women] have proved excellent workers, and as satisfactory as the men they have replaced”. World War II demanded for educated women to serve in military positions and saw married, financially stable women and housewives with children joining the workforce, which was previously unheard of. This flexibility in gender roles, brought about by the sheer demand of total war, further revised social attitudes in favour of increased freedom for women. This time around, the adaptation of general opinion was publicized, and this made all the difference. There was no shortage of effort made to try and contain the adjustments regarding gender in the workforce, to ensure women would return to their conventional roles after the war, to downplay the war work done by women to be ‘domestic’ and ‘feminine’. It was the widespread, united, unstoppable shift in women’s attitudes and the advertisement of such that made WWII more than a blip on the radar for the employment history of Canadian women.