The+Role+of+Women

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Role of Women
Before we read the note, let's have a look at an AMAZING student project from a girl at the International School of Toulouse. This will give you a great idea of the changing role of women in World War 1. Video

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How Women Supported the War
 Many Canadian women became very active in wartime volunteering and fundraising. Some women might have spent two mornings a week as a volunteer with the Red Cross, either making bed clothing or rolling bandages. Another two afternoons were for selling baking and crafts to buy tobacco and treats for the soldiers. And, there was a day spent visiting soldiers' families to see that the Patriotic Fund had supplied groceries and coal, if needed. Plenty of spare time was spent knitting socks for the troops. Many groups of women and older girls, called "Farmerettes," volunteered to work on farms. Every citizen was expected to do his or her part.

 Below you'll find a photograph of female students of W. Ross Macdonald knitting socks for soldiers during World War 1. Yes, EVERY citizen was expected to do his or her part! The caption written on the photo at the time states "Everyone keeps: Inmates of School for Blind Knit". What do you find odd about that phrase?

Women in Industry
Women at Work Video (no dialogue) Government contracts put manufacturers to work producing war goods. There was a huge increase in the production of munitions, meaning military equipment, weapons, and ammunition. By 1917, 600 factories across Canada were producing all types of munitions.

 These industries were not without scandal. Early in the war, Sam Hughes gave some of these manufacturing contracts to his friends. Unfortunately, the quality of the goods was sometimes poor, such as boots that fell apart in the rain and shells that exploded inside artillery pieces.

 Finally, Prime Minister Borden had enough and took control by setting up the Imperial Munitions Board. Soon, Canada was producing two million dollars' worth of quality-controlled munitions daily. Hughes was eventually dismissed.

 As the war dragged on, women began working in the munitions industry. Their wages were often lower than what the men whom they replaced had earned. And it was always assumed that these women would step aside when the soldiers returned home. But without their efforts, Canada could not have delivered the food and supplies needed. Years later, one upper-middle-class woman spoke about her Great War days filling shell casings at a munitions plant in Toronto.

 Their war, everybody, every single class... In finding they were just the same as we were, just hadn't had the chances we had for education, we began to realize that we were all sisters under the skin... Another thing too; there's nothing that draws people together more than mutual trouble. The war went so much against us so often that we felt, "the boys are doing that for us, what are we doing for them?"  Sandra Gwyn, Tapestry of War. A Private View of Canadians in the Great War (Toronto: Harper-Collins, 1992), p. 443

With all the support that women gave to the war effort, it seems strange that they weren't even allowed to vote. Nellie McClung, a leader in promoting political rights for Canadian women, helped change all that.

 McClung was born in Ontario in 1873 and moved with her family to a farm near Brandon, Manitoba, when she was seven. She became a teacher, but had to quit when she married - in those days, married women were not allowed to teach.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;"> She began a writing career and also became involved in the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), a group that helped battle the effects of alcohol abuse on family life. Much of her political fighting was on behalf of less fortunate women - those who were poor, overworked, underpaid, and forgotten by society.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Women Get The Vote
<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Early in the 20th century, women were not allowed to vote. But women in some countries were taking part in the suffragist movement ("suffrage" means the right to vote). McClung was a leading suffragist, and, in 1916 the province of Manitoba was the first to grant women the right to vote. Only White British women had this right, however. That year, McClung wrote, "Women are going to form a chain, a greater sisterhood than the world has ever known."

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;"> By May 1918, women in Canada were granted the right to vote in federal elections. Women of colour and Aboriginal men and women did not recieve this right until much later. Women's work during the war helped prove McClung and the suffragists' point that women deserved equal opportunities to men. Despite the sacrifices of people of colour and First Nations, they were ignored by both the government and the majority of Canadians. Racism was a powerful force in Canada for the majority of its history as a country.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Nellie McClung Video

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;"> TIMELINE: When Canadian Women First Voted
<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;"> 1916: Man.; Sask.; Alberta <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;"> 1917: Ontario; B.C. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;"> 1918: Nova Scotia; Federal elections <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;"> 1919: New Brunswick <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;"> 1922: P.E.I. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;"> 1925: Nfld. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;"> 1940: Quebec <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;"> 1949: Nfld. Aboriginal men and women <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;"> 1960: Other Aboriginal men and women

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Questions
<span style="background-color: #b5e0e0; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;"> 1. Who was Nellie McClung? Why was she so important?

<span style="background-color: #b5e0e0; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">2. Find the wikipedia entry for Nellie McClung. Summarize it in 5 points. Pick the ones that you think are most relevant.

<span style="background-color: #b5e0e0; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;"> 3. It was assumed that women would let men take over the jobs the women had been doing during the war. How would you have felt if you were a woman in this position? How would you feel as a man?

<span style="background-color: #b5e0e0; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;"> 4. a) Explain how the Great War led to many women getting the right to vote. <span style="background-color: #b5e0e0; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;"> b) Use the timeline to prove the link between the war and women voting.

<span style="background-color: #b5e0e0; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">5. Why do you think people of colour and First Nations did not get the vote for another 3 or 4 decades?