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... 1945 volunteer Canadian women raised over a half a million dollars in cash alone. In Nova Scotia women at Pier II unpacked, sorted, and repacked supplies that the government was to send to allied troops. Canadas women citizens did all of these things without pay, to help theyre Country over seas. The last major mention of volunteer work was the buying and selling of victory bonds and War Savings Stamps. These gave the government money to support the allied forces.
It was said that $ 5 invested in War Savings will buy one round of anti-aircraft shells! Now we also start to see a large amount of volunteer womens organizations point up all over Canada to help coordinate groups of volunteers for specific tasks. The bulk of these groups were headed up by the main group of the WVS in Ottawa. Looking back, it can be seen that through these aspects of volunteer work, the paid women workers, government, and troops fell back on these women for essential support during the war. The second major aspect we must now look into is the aspect of the paid labour force during the war. The best understanding of the contribution by women in the paid labour force can be better appreciated if we take a look at how it came to be, and why it was needed.
On 24 th March, 1942 Prime Minister Mackenzie King said the [Canadian women are the] most important available reserve of manpower. It must be kept in mind that the population of Canada at the time of WWII was about 11, 300, 000. At the peak production of the war there was over 1, 100, 000 Canadians in the paid war production, at least one half of these were women. It must also be know that there was more then a million women in the general paid labour force, which was also a part of the war effort.
The government pushed these paid women into the labour force, telling them it was their patriotic duty to serve for their Country. Although women were significant in the early war effort, by mid- 1941 the reserve pool of male civilian workers was in dire need of supplement. This is when we really start to see a large drive by the federal government to get women into the labour force. They are needed to keep Canada on its feet. By this time there is over a half million women in paid work.
This however excluded all rural homemakers, for they provided irreplaceable work on the rural farms. I will get to that particular point. The National Selective Service (NSS) was aiming at 1. 5 million women working for the war effort. A surplus of women is now extracted from the west and the Maritimes, sent to Ontario and Quebec to serve in the bulk of the paid labour force. By 1942 there is a compulsory registration of married and unmarried women age 20 - 24. These women were the first group that was actually recruited to the paid labour force.
The need for women had now become so important in Canada that some provinces, such as Quebec, changed their legislation to allow more groups of women to enter the paid labour force. However by 1943 it has even gotten to the point that the womens labour force is starting to dwindle down. This is when all the women in Canada are asked to serve their patriotic duty. The federal Government starts to recruit just about all women from single to married, and young to old. Now that the paid labour force is on its way it is important to see where and what impact these women made in their new roles. Some of the major industries that the women were now in were welders, painters, riveters, tractor drivers, cleaners, boilers and more.
Women were not only working in their own spheres, but they were also becoming increasingly dominant in pre-war male spheres. In Pictou, Nova Scotia there was a major wartime shipping industry that employed about 300 women. They were important in receiving and shipping many of the war supplies that were produced in Quebec and Ontario factories. Another important industry that women became a driving force in was the aircraft industry. More then a third of the planes in the war effort were built by women back home in the plants on Canadian soil. We also see a very important contribution by women who had previously stopped working to raise a family.
They played a big part coming back into the paid labour force. They brought with them both numbers and experience that was needed to train new war recruits. The largest, and probably the most important war industry Canada was Munitions work in Ontario and Quebec. In 1944 there were about 42, 000 women employed in this industry and by the wars end the Bren Gun Girls had turned out 900, 000 rifles and 244, 000 light machine guns. The other industry that was almost as big as munitions was food producing.
This industry was almost totally women based. They turned out 4, 500, 000 barrels of flour, 5, 249, 000 hundredweight of bacon and ham, 4, 375, 000 pounds of eggs and so much more essential food It cannot all be mentioned. The food and munition were only two of the major products that were produced by mainly Canadian women. Canadian women were producing everything from aircraft right down to boots. Canada made every one of the 2, 000 items that was needed by the Canadian army. Thanks to the help of the women, Canada could equip a division of infantry every six weeks.
From the Canadian soldiers helmet to the plane that was flying over his head, Canadian women back home had an important hand in its manufacture. There is now a simple fact that no war educated Canadian can deny. Without the working women at home the forces would never have had the essentials to help win the war. The third major aspect I have to draw attention too is the domestic role and the consumer role that women played in the war. In light of my topic it is important to look at these roles because they were both new aspects of life that women had to endure for the length of the war. The reason that I did not include domestic duties under volunteer or paid work is because these women could both make money from these activities, and also women who worked most domestic positions (like agriculture) were not participants in much else but that.
For a large amount of women left at home, they had to take responsibility for their husbands or fathers family farm This tied into the major role of domestic food production. Although agriculture from family farms was coordinated by the government during the war, it tended to be a separate labour force from all others. During the war there was about 760, 000 people working on farms, most of them, women thrust into these roles. For the women who had to work on these farms it was a huge step. These women were now balancing child care, house care, and the farm. I guess that it would be silly to think that the finished food product that factories shipped out came from nowhere.
It was the women on the farms that milked the cows, fed the chickens and ran the farm tractors. That were the raw food producers for these plants. By the middle of the war it is evident that the wives and daughters running the farms needed some recruitment help. Now the need for food production was so great the government had recruited teacher and student volunteers to help do farm work at various times of the year. Eventually three farm groups emerged to help cultivate the farm jobs. They were the Farm Girls Brigade (women under 26), Farmerette Brigade (summer student / teachers ), Womens Land Brigade (volunteer housewives / housewives ).
These three groups of wives and daughters were the primary providers of food for the allied men over seas. To supplement this production other women planted victory gardens that consisted of what most women could grow in their back yards. These small gardens provided small donations to help the food production industry. Finally the last role that women had to step up and fill was the role of the conservative consumer.
This sounds funny to add, but this was both a new role for women that came with the war, and an important part of helping the war effort. Canadian women now had to be more conscientious about what they would consume. You may ask how this role was important in the war effort? Well first of all this helped the federal government conserve food for troops over seas. Secondly, it helped to conserve anything that was not immediately needed by women, to help supply the war effort. Canadians now had rationing systems and coupons for things like gas, sugar and liquor.
Many Canadians had to do without a lot of things because they were needed for the war effort. Homemakers helped the war effort by coping with shortages, accepting rationing, and preventing waste. Consumers, over three million women volunteered to help monitor the prices and goods in Canada for possible inflation. With womens new role as a primary consumer it was vital to the war effort that prices were monitored, and consumption was kept to necessity only.
Although this was a hard role for women, and all Canadians, it was an important role. Now that the war is over it is easy to look back on the role that both the men and women played. I sometimes have to ask: what was easier, the men shooting on the front lines or the women that stayed home and multi-tasked to keep a country together. I think in retrospect it would be unfair to try and say that one was more important then the other.
The only thing that satisfies me is to know that without Canadas women on the home front, there may have been no chance to win the war. It is obvious with all the information given that by temporarily assuming non-traditional roles in the labour force and in society, Canadian women became an important part of the war effort from 1939 - 1945.
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