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CANADIAN WOMEN IN WWII

© Mary M. Alward

Whether they were serving overseas, or keeping "the homefires burning," Canadian women did their part during the Second World War. They were not given the option to enlist for combat duty, but there were many jobs that they were capable of, and they did them. These women joined the war effort and give it their all. During WWII, 45,000 Canadian women volunteered for military duty. Every other woman in the country fought for "the cause" in her own way. Canadian women enlisted in the Women's Divison of the Royal Canadian Air Force, as well as the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service and the Canadian Women's Army Corp.

In July, 1941, the Women's Division of the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) was authorized by the government. Thousands of young women flocked to the recruiting offices to enlist. By 1945, 17,000 Women were in the Canadian Armed Forces.

In August 1945, the Canadian Women's Army Corp was established. Training bases were established in Kitchener, Ontario; St Anne de Bellevue, Quebec; and Vermilion, Alberta. 21,000 served in the Canadian Women's Army Corp (CWACs.) The Women's Royal Canadian Naval Services (WRENs) began recruiting in 1942. This division grew more slowly, but all women who served wanted to be part of the "real" war.

On The Home Front

Many Canadian women never enlisted in the Armed Services. They felt they were needed at home to raise families, crops for food and to fill the jobs that the men had vacated in order to serve their country.

Being a young, single woman had its advantages. Job opportunities were everywhere. For married women, the task wasn't quite so simple, especially if they had children. However, they learned to manage. They were determined to defend their country in whatever way they could and serve they did.

Hundreds of Canadian women worked in machine shops, welding shops and manufacturing plants, making the equipment that was necessary to fight a war. Manpower was at a premium and fuses, guns and shells were urgently needed. Women's obligations were many. Not only were they expected to work in the jobs the men had left, they were expected to keep a neat, tidy house and raise children. Luxuries were few and far between. Silk stockings were in very high demand and hard to get. Women painted fine, black lines up the back of their legs to look like the seam of a stocking.

Only one in nine of the 45,000 women who signed up were selected for duty overseas. It seemed Armed Forces needed women to do the men's laundry. Women's roles in the war were to far exceed what was expected of them.

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