Canadian Women in World War II - heroines.ca, Women in Canadian History

A Guide to Women in Canadian History

Home · About · Meet the Author · Contact · People · Gallery · Celebrate · History · Resources · News · Search

History

Time Travel in Canadian Women's History

Canadian Women Serving in World War II

What was the role of Canadian women in World War II? Have a look at these sources to find out some of the many ways that they contributed to the war effort, and some sexist attitudes about how their roles were perceived. As noted by the National Film Board in describing one of the films (Proudly She Marches), even though it was a recruitment film the "visual messages suggests that this work is merely temporary and possibly even unnatural for women."

women cleaning locomotive
Women workers cleaning a locomotive in a roundhouse, January 1943.
(Nicholas Morant/National Film Board of Canada. Library and Archives Canada/C-079524)

Watch women in action during World War II

Check out these online films produced by the National Film Board:

The documentary Proudly She Marches. Jane Marsh, 1943. 18 min. An NFB recruitment film with info on how women were trained to handle work in the Canadian Women's Army Corps, the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service.
Women Are Warriors. Jane Marsh, 1942. 14 min.
Wings on Her Shoulder. Jane Marsh, 1942. 9 min.
Proudest Girl in the World. Julian Roffman, 1944. 2 min.
Rosies of the North. Kelly Saxberg, 1999. 46 min 40 s.
To the Ladies. 1946. 2:35 min.

Helen Harrison (1909-1995), WWII pilot for Air Transport Auxiliary in Great Britain:

Helen Harrison

Read about this Canadian heroine in the book 100 Canadian Heroines: Famous and Forgotten Faces by Merna Forster (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2004).