World War One and the Shaping of Canadian Women

Before the outbreak of World War I, women were expected to be no more than homemakers and mothers, and were scorned by a male-dominated society for attempting to pursue their own careers. Although some argue that women had a large presence in the workforce prior to WWI, the onset of the war saw nearly one and a half million women entering the workforce that had not previously worked before, assuming stations that were not normally held by women. 3000 Canadian women underwent training for the Red Cross, Voluntary Aid Detachment and St. John Ambulance, and served as nursing sisters in the war, after which several hundred women returned with medals for bravery. Those remaining in Canada took on many of the roles men had abandoned while serving in an effort to do their part for the war effort. Young women were sent to work for farmers in the fields in the Niagara Peninsula to harvest food to feed the soldiers; women older than university age were employed in munitions factories. Men initially subjected the influx of women entering the workface to criticism, sexism and discrimination. Women were treated poorly in the workplace, and faced payment inequalities—Gladys Strum said, “No one has ever objected to women working. The only thing [men] have ever objected to, is paying women for working”, but this resentment was the spark required to reignite the Canadian Suffragette Movement. For the first time, women were collectively able to fulfill duties normally held by men, and this allowed women to believe that they could be more than simply housewives.