Women in War

A country’s economy is vital to its existence. While most of the men were away fighting it was up to the women to keep Canada’s economy running. On top of what was considered a women’s normal duties they also started taking on some of the men’s responsibilities. Even in war a country still has to keep running as normal. Women started working in factories and taking men’s jobs. Although Canada entered the First World War in debt and still owed about $10 million by then end of the war, Canada’s economy flourished. Throughout the war they exported large quantities of timber, provisions as well as machines and artillery. This helped keep the economy running throughout war time. The Second World War was similar in this aspect to the first and it was again majorly up to the women to keep the economy running. A difference in the Second World War was that women were allowed to join auxiliaries. So many started joining that there wasn’t enough people to work in the factories and farms. In 1943 the government ordered women to stop joining auxiliaries and gave them the option of working on farms or in factories instead. By the end of the Second World War Canada had produced around 11 billion dollars of munitions, 815,000 military vehicles and 16,000 aircraft.