By the time Second World War was on the verge of breaking out, a number of women were working. Despite the Marriage Bar still intact and limiting opportunities, the 1931 Census reported a higher proportion of women working in paid employment than the year before with a 34.2% representing 6,265,000 women.[1]
However, there was a demand for women in the workforce once again during the Second World War.
There was widespread propaganda used to mobilise women into the workforce and encourage them to partake for their countries in both Britain and Canada. The government used posters, leaflets and radio broadcasts to deliver the message of how important the women’s role was. This poster was aimed to inspire women to sign up for branches of the armed forces or participate in industrial or farm work. Single and married women were allowed to volunteer for the services and serve overseas if needed. This demonstrated a shift in the expectations from women, giving even married women the opportunity to provide for the country during the War period.
During the war, women worked in factories producing munitions, building ships and aeroplanes. There were 640,000 women in the armed forces including The Women’s Royal Naval Service. The outbreak of the war showed the service’s head office at The Women’s Royal Naval Service swamped with applications from women, both by letters and delivered in person.[2]
However despite women servicing, they were not allowed to bear arms. The Lieutenant-General J. R. Eastwood, Director General of the Home Guard, wrote in December 1940 in one of the memoranda, stating, “It is undesirable for women to bear arms in the Home Guard.”[3] It could only be accounted that the ideals of femininity did not fit into women bearing arms and though women’s roles were changing during the War, there was still frigid expectations that were to be followed.
The Second World War also accommodated to the needs of a married women working. Flexible working hours and childcare in the form of nurseries were arranged for women.[4]
Similarly, in Canada, the role of women in society changed drastically. Canada required women to support the war effort by overtaking jobs traditionally held by men. Second World War put an end to the Great Depression of 1930’s.
The Canadian Women’s Army Corps (CWAC) formed in 1941 was a transformation for women in Canadian society. They enlisted several thousand women in support roles for the armed forces. However, segregation remained apparent and women in the CWAC did not follow army practice. Women were mostly worked as: drivers, cooks, clerks, telephone operations but it was still a transformation for women.[5]
[1] P. Summerfield, Women Workers in Second World War: Production and Patriarchy in Conflict (New York, Routledge, 2013) p. 8
[2] H. Roberts, The WRNS in Wartime: The Women’s Royal Naval Service 1917-1955 (London, I.B Tauris & Co, 2018)
[3] P. Summerfield and C. Peniston-Bird, ‘Women in the firing line : the home guard and the defence of gender boundaries in Britain in the Second World War’, Women’s History Review, vol. 9 (2000) p. 233
[4] Carol Harris, ‘Women Under Fire in World War Two’, BBC < http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/women_at_war_01.shtml> [accessed on 15 November 2018]
[5] B. Dundas and Dr. S. Durflinger, ‘The Canadian Women’s Army Corps, 1941-1946’, Canadian War Museum < https://www.warmuseum.ca/learn/dispatches/the-canadian-womens-army-corps-1941-1946/#tabs> [accessed on 15 November 2018]
BIBILOGRAPHY
Dundas, Barbara, Durflinger, Serge, ‘The Canadian Women’s Army Corps, 1941-1946’,Canadian War Museum < https://www.warmuseum.ca/learn/dispatches/the-canadian-womens-army-corps-1941-1946/#tabs> [accessed on 15 November 2018].
Harris, Carol, ‘Women Under Fire in World War Two’, BBC < http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/women_at_war_01.shtml> [accessed on 15 November 2018].
Pasolli, Lisa, ‘I ask you, Mr. Mitchell, is the emergency over?’: Debating Day Nurseries in Second World War’, The Canadian Historical Review, vol. 96 (2015), pp. 1-31.
Roberts, Hannah, The WRNS in Wartime: The Women’s Royal Naval Service 1917-1955 (London, I.B Tauris & Co, 2018)
Summerfield, Penny, Women Workers in Second World War: Production and Patriarchy in Conflict (New York, Routledge, 2013).
Summerfield, Penny, Peniston-Bird Corinna, ‘Women in the firing line : the home guard and the defence of gender boundaries in Britain in the Second World War’, Women’s History Review, vol. 9 (2000) p. 231-255.
Attitudes to Women Working in the Twentieth Century 
