'Canadian Women and the Second World War Essay\r'

'The changing occasions of wo custody through come on tale has been drastic, and none more so than the item during and aft(prenominal) being state of war II. The irrevocable changes that occurred one time the state of state of fight started and wo hands went to cause were unprecedented. In the end, the changing portion of Canada’s women during the War was the beginning of a chain chemical reaction of events that have evermore changed the Canadian exerciseplace and also that of men’s archaic views on the capabilities of women in general.\r\nMany look back to the period during the war in which women were encourage to get out of the kitchen and go to work, and wonder how a five year period could be so instrumental in forever changing the norms of friendship? Two authors, who attempt to blend through a mountain of information and decl ar oneself a clear picture in rejoinder to this question, are Jeff Keshen and Ruth cockroach Pierson. Both authors cre ate a slightly different picture from the tons of papers, minutes, war diaries and publications that covered that pivotal period during worldly concern War II where so many Canadians women effect their voice and their freedom from domesticity.\r\nCanadian Women and the Second public War Ruth Roach Pierson’s experiment is written with purely the perspective of women in mind, and the name itself is geared towards a female audience. The writer in brief outlines the conditions of Canada at the onset of the war and the societal views of the role of women. Although there are no quoted references sited for this demonstrate, there was a vast amount of alternative reading where I am sure one could draw numerous conclusions.\r\nEven with the lack of references, I did find this essay the nigh compelling especi e very last(predicate)y, given the current temper of women in the work force. Ruth Roach Pierson describes in great detail the plight women confront during the war, whe n they were encouraged by the organization and the needs of their families to get out and help condescend their families financially bit all of the men were away at war. She goes on to describe the working conditions and child care situations for working women which were less(prenominal) than adequate.\r\nAs a member of the Canadian Forces and a woman, the some interesting part of the article for me was the descriptions of how women became a uniformed part of the military and how all tierce branches of service came to assimilate women into active duty and the roles they were allowed to act in. Throughout the essay, we were told about the deplorable conditions, the lack of par the women faced in the workplace, and the stereotypes that were attached to women that proved very difficult and almost impossible to overcome.\r\nAt most concern was the in alludeity found between men and women’s pay, benefits and allowances throughout the World War II era and beyond. The lack o f equal pay for equal work caused great contention for women and still does to this day (although it is not quite as blatant in the civilian workforce today). The argument of the writer is that the roles interpreted on by women during the war forever changed the roles of women in society. I agree with her argument. Had it not been for the war, and the call to work and the military, things would be very different in our society for women, even today.\r\nThe war was the instrument to get Canadian women to work, and once there, women found their voices to fight the in equivalence with measure to working conditions and pay, and paved the way for the next contemporaries of women to continue to work and fight for an equal vie field with their male counterparts . Revisiting Canada’s Civilian Women during World War II Jeff Keshen’s essay is without a doubt written from a man’s perspective without much sympathy to the plight civilian women experienced during the World War II era.\r\nThis article is very well written and cites over c references, making for a very factual forecast of the whiles. This article was geared more towards what contributions were made by civilian women versus the article by Ruth Roach Pierson which put most of the focus on women’s roles within the military. Jeff Keshen’s article apologizes how the media plays a of the clipping played a pivotal role in doing two things specifically, one was to get the women out to work, support their families and contribute to the war cause.\r\nThe second countered the last by telling women were over and over told how important their role in the home was. Throughout this article the writer makes numerous references towards how the government of Canada attempted to do the refine thing towards female workers during the war, but it also shows how the government’s heart wasn’t into it, thusly unless making offers to female workers just to appease their compl aints for the time being until the war was over.\r\nThe government was terrible on providing financial support to women whose husbands were away at war, whirl exclusively meager amounts of their pay each month, thus forcing more women into the workforce. The article goes on to further explain how during the war, women felt empowered by their circumstances and how once the war was over that women continued to fight towards equality and many refused to ‘go back to the kitchen’ after the war and further challenged the norms by continuing to work.\r\nIn conclusion, the most compelling argument found during both articles was the willingness of women to move forward and support their families, no matter the represent or the inequalities found between their male counterparts. I have always heard said that ‘women are the backbone of society’. Now, this may not be entirely true in the year 2011 with the divided up roles of women and men in families, but it certai nly post be said for the years during World War II. Women were faced with the challenge of having their spouses and breadwinners away from home, and they were also faced with the uncertainty of their safe return home to their families.\r\nWhen you equate this with the call from their government and society to join the work force to help the war effort and beget over the roles of the men in society while they were away. Eagerly the women answered that call, and stepped up to take over the roles the men used to hold before the war. Not only were they working full-time jobs, but they were still in charge of their households and raising their children and taking over and complete the roles of husband and fathers for an extremely long period of time.\r\n'