Wenches with Wrenches: Women in Industry

Many men left their civilian jobs to fight for their country during the First and Second World Wars. These jobs needed to be filled and, in the Second World War in particular, women quickly stepped forward to meet the surging demand for workers in a greatly expanding Canadian wartime economy. The Department of Munitions had bet heavily on the hiring of women to supplement the loss of men in the wartime effort. According to CD How, by hiring women there would be an increase of 375 000 workers. Women were often hired as unskilled workers in projectile plants. Initially, there was a reluctance to allow women into new fields of employment. As the war proceeded, however, it became evident that if the country was to make the most of its resources, women’s contributions would be vital. Many new factories were established to manufacture guns, ammunition, aircraft, ships and more, and women soon could be seen in almost every factory working alongside their male counterparts. This shift in gender roles took some getting used to, but by the end of the war, women had proved to themselves and to the country that they could do any job a man could.

Initially, there was a reluctance to allow women into new fields of employment. As the war proceeded, however, it became evident that if the country was to make the most of its resources, women’s contributions would be vital. Many new factories were established to manufacture guns, ammunition, aircraft, ships and more, and women soon could be seen in almost every factory working alongside their male counterparts. This shift in gender roles took some getting used to, but by the end of the war, women had proved to themselves and to the country that they could do any job a man could—and do it well!

Lack of education was one of the main obstacles to the advancements of women in war industry. There were only a handful who had the training to advance into managerial or skilled labour positions, However, the job opportunities during the war were those that would not have been available to women other wise. At the beginning of the war, approximately 570,000 women worked in Canadian industry, mostly at clerical jobs. Five years later, almost a million women would be employed, with many working in traditionally male factory jobs. For the same reason women left their traditional areas of work to enter the war industries where they received higher pay. While ages were hire for war work, women received less pay than men with 51 cents per hour compared to 67 cents for men. Additionally trainees (which lasted about 3 months) had a fixed pay of 33 cents, which would lead to significant initial savings by employers of women. The Second World War prompted a turn around economy and relief from some labour’s problems. As men left the work to become soldiers and industry began to expand again, women entered the labor market in large numbers. The number of working women grew from 638,000 in 1939 to 1,077,000 by 1944.

The Women’s Division of NSS was created and Mrs. Rex (Fraudena) Eaton of Vancouver was put in charge. For as long as possible, her office aimed their recruitment efforts exclusively at young unmarried women, but by June 1943 that labour pool, too, had evaporated. Gradually the target was widened to childless housewives for part-time work, next married women without children for full-time work, then married women with young children for part-time work, and finally mothers of young children for full-time work. In anticipation of this development, the federal Minister of Labour was empowered by Order-in-Council to enter into agreements with provinces for the establishment of day-care facilities for children of mothers employed in war industries. Only the most industrialized provinces took advantage of the Dominion-Provincial Wartime Day Nurseries Agreement—Ontario and Quebec. This first foray by the Canadian state into government-supported childcare remained short-lived and small in scale, accommodating at its height only around 2,500 children in Ontario and 115 to 120 in Quebec. Moreover, the program, introduced to aid mothers working in war industries, strictly limited the places for the children of women working in other sectors to 25% of capacity. Practically the moment the war was over, Quebec’s Wartime Day Nurseries closed their doors; Ontario’s stayed open only to the spring of 1946.