Working Women

All over Canada, women’s groups knitted countless socks, scarves, hats and sweaters to keep soldiers, sailors and air crews warm. They packed up canned food to send to Canadian troops and prisoners of war. Unmarried young women had to register with the National Selective Service, a government organization that sent them to work where they were needed most: farms, factories, transportation, construction and more. The NSS later expanded to include women who were married but did not have children. Thousands of people moved from the country to cities such as Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver to do war work. They needed a place to live, so women were pushed to rent rooms to these workers whether they wanted to or not. Government campaigns lectured wives and mothers to keep everyone happy, and especially not to bother men with household problems.

Although they took over important work from driving buses to welding steel, women like these Edmonton factory workers were paid much less than men doing the same job.