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Women in the RCAF

© Carl Johnson

Women of the RCAF

I came across this article in the Edmonton Journal on July 3, 2001. I found it very interesting and thought I'd pass it along to you.

Standing on Guard

This country had more than a few good women.

Those first women of the air force faced the enemy overseas -- and critics at home.

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By: Hanneke Brooymans 
Journal Staff Writer
Edmonton, AB

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The first women to join the Royal Canadian Air Force fought a battle on two fronts. All were allied against the Axis Powers, but the women also struggling to be taken seriously in a man's world - - a world where a woman's place was still perceived to be at home. 

So Sylvia Evans was on the front line in more ways than one. She was one of the first to join the RCAF's Women's Division when it first formed in 1941. 

On June 24th she joined about 600 other women who traveled from all over Canada, and even England, Australia and New Zealand, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the formation of the women's division in Edmonton. Evans an Edmontonian who turned 90 the day before the gathering, said she left the two-year task of organizing the event in the capable hands of others. She still moves about her home easily and memories of her RCAF years remain strong. She remembers there weren't many problems with the men. "There were a few times the men resented us, but on the whole I think we were well accepted," Evans said.

"Perhaps in the army and navy there might have been more of it because they'd had more of a tradition."

But on the whole, during wartime all efforts to help the Allies were appreciated. If anything, the women seemed to help boost morale of the men. One commanding officer to her later he was worried there might be more disciplinary problems at the barracks when the women first arrived. But he actually found the opposite to be true. The women's presence made life seem more normal, Evans explained.

If there was any resentment it may have come from the women, who chafed at earning less than the men. Women started with a wage of 75 cents a day. They soon moved up to 90 cents, but that was still considerably less than the $1.20 air-men were earning daily. "We weren't joining up to get rich," Evans said dryly. They weren't joining up just to look good, either. "we had funny looking hats in the beginning," said a laughing Evans. And until nylons became more common they had to wear grey cotton socks with their navy blue tunics and skirts. Only women who worked in the trades were

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