Yourlastname 1

Student Name Professor Name Subject: History 9 September 20012 How did the Canadian women contributions in the war effort in World War 1 affect social change in Canada? Women during those times were forced to encounter all sorts of difficulties they were not accustomed to by that time. They worried about their loved ones and experienced a psychological stress in terms of what they could possibly do to help their homeland. Some women made a decision to work at the home fronts, while others, wanting to be nearer to the battle ground, chose to follow their men to another country. Besides such psychological conflicts, families had to be supported, and Canada's economic climate needed to be kept secure, making women replace their men on the homeland. Thus, one could argue, that women's lives underwent substantial changes under the impact of World War 1, leading to significant social changes in the country. According to Lengert (2006), All the Canadian men that went overseas, not only left behind their families but also an economy that wanted to be maintained. However, this is where women stepped in. As the women`s movement was starting to see efforts right before the Great War, they now could prove that they were able to replace men in the working world. (p.2) During World War 1, while some women tried to support their country by doing work in charitable organizations and gave mental support to their husbands, brothers and sons at the front, others served as nurses and volunteers at the front, and many others becoming well established in the Canadian labor force. What is more, the First World War had important implications for the manner in which women happened to be viewed by their contemporary society. With the shortage of quite a few men, adult females were compelled to accept the majority of the roles that used to be customarily

Yourlastname 2

performed by men. They produced remarkable social advances by being able to vote for the first time. For many women, this seemed to be an chance to convince a patriarchal society that ladies were competent at performing "male work" and thereby move forward the cause of female suffrage. Therefore, World War 1 was a turning point for Canada as a nation. The Canada of 1919 was profoundly different from the Canada of 1914 in several fundamental aspects demographic, economic, political and social. (Prentice,p.213). Summing up, it could be argued that WW1 brought changes to any country involved in the conflict, and specifically accommodated for necessary changes in the social life of Canada, by having women step in for the typical mens roles in the Canadian society.

Yourlastname 3

Works Cited

Prentice, Alison: Canadian Women - A history. Toronto: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988. Lengert, Vanessa: How World War 1 changed the lives of Canadian women, Munich: GRIN Publishing GmbH, 2006.