1. Canadian Women and the Second World War “Two Steps Forward, One Step Back” n Industrial Service n Volunteer Service n Military Service n Did the War Emancipate Women?

2. Industrial Service n March 1942: National Selective Service n Labour shortage by 1941 n registration of women followed soon after, though only for single or married women without children.

3. Industrial Service n 261,000 women employed in war production n --Shipbuilding, 4,000 by 1943 n --Aircraft Production –119 in 1939 –25,013 in 1944. n 1942: “Equal Pay for Equal Work” –--but did women occupy a ghetto

4. What of married women with children? n Mid-1943: NSS seeks women part-time help from women with children. n 1942: Dominion-Provincial Wartime Day Nurseries Agreement –agreed to by Ontario and Quebec n Began to open in 1943-- 28 day nurseries by war's end. (one in Galt)

5. Volunteer Services n 1941: Women's Voluntary Services est'd to oversee volunteer work n And to oversee the effectiveness of wage and price controls n Organizations: Women's Institutes; Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire (IODE); Red Cross; National Council of Women; University Women's Clubs; church organizations

6. Significant roles n Victory Bond drives; n saving stamps; n Victory Gardens; n overseeing wage and price controls; n blood donor booths; n clothing drives; n hospitality for service people; n entertainment; n parcels for overseas; n sponsoring ships crews and units; relief work

8. Military Service n July 1941: CWAAF (WDs) –"We Serve that Men May Fly" n August 1941: CWACS –"We Are the Women Behind the Men Behind the Guns" n July 1942: WRCNS –"We Serve That Men May Fight"

9. Women at War n Etta Macpherson, editor of Chataleine Magazine, 20 December 1943 n A Liberating Experience? http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1- 71-855 5099/conflict_war/women_ ww2/clip7

10. Military Service n 50,000 enlistees n 2 percent of the female population between 16 and 45 n CWAAF: 16,221 (1,300 served in England) n CWAC: 20,497 (2,000 in England) n WRCNS: 6,665 (503 in England) n Nursing Sisters: 4,439

12. An Emancipation? n Would they return to "normal" after the war? n 1944: Family allowances “baby bonuses” encouraged women to return to the home n 1946: The women's services disbanded n recognized as veterans, with pensions and benefits –--12,000 took advantage of educational opportunities; eligible for funds for land purchases

13. War’s End n 180,000 women war workers out of work n 1945 levels of women employment were not matched again until 1966. n The government assumed that "advances" were temporary; so did most of Canadian society. n But....

14. One Recollection n “The experience of having been in uniform was very rewarding for a lot of people. They ended up doing all sorts of things that they probably would never have dreamed of before the war... I remember one girl on our station who was an airframe mechanic--one of the few women in that trade. She passed all her trade tests with flying colours, which irritated some of the men, because they had to try theirs several times before making it... I think her Air Force experience expanded her life in a way that it wouldn’t have been otherwise.

15. Former member, RCAF (WD), n from Carolyn Gossage, (ed.) Greatcoats and Glamour Boots: Canadian Women at War (1939-1945) Toronto/Oxford: Dundurn Press, 1991: 204.