Women in WWII
While today, women can enroll in any CAF occupation, it wasn’t always that way. For many years, the positions in which women were allowed to serve were dictated by public opinion and traditional ideas of gender roles.
Prior to the 1940’s there was a long tradition of women serving as nurses during conflicts like the Northwest Rebellion (1885), the South African War (1899-1902), and World War I (1914-1918). When the country again went to war in 1939, dozens of women’s volunteer corps organized and began teaching those who volunteered skills like first aid, motor mechanics, morse code, map reading, and military clerical duties. For two years women at home lobbied the government for a place in the Canadian military only to be denied over and over again.
After two years of fighting, after repeated Allied losses that resulted in a manpower shortage, the Canadian government created the Canadian Women’s Army Corps (CWAC) in 1941. CWAC was not formally part of the army nor subject to military discipline until it was formally integrated into the armed forces a year later. Because women were not permitted to carry weapons or serve in combat, members of CWAC served in behind-the-scenes roles, freeing more men to fight. Commonly, women performed more traditional “household” tasks such as cooking, laundry, and clerical work, however, many women also worked in the motor pool as mechanics and drivers. Later on, they expanded into forming the Royal Canadian Air Force (Women's Division), the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service, as well as the nursing services that were associated with each.
After WWII, the women's organizations were shut down until the onset of the Cold War and the Korean War in the 1950s when the military once again faced a shortage of personnel. While a small number of nurses were sent to Korea, servicewomen at home filled the same kinds of roles they had during the Second World War. Finally in the 1960s, the doors began to open for good for women to enlist and enter non-traditional roles.
Today, 85 years after the creation of the CWAC, women have been fully integrated into our national armed forces. Canada currently has one of the highest proportions of women in its military in the world as well as one of the highest numbers in positions women can serve, all thanks to the efforts of the brave, pioneering women that came before us who helped pave the way for the women who now serve in the Canadian Armed Forces today.
