The Second World War changed life in Canada forever. Before the war, it was the custom for a woman to quit her job once she married and turn all her attention to the role of a fulltime housewife, becoming “the wife” or “ the little missus”.
All that changed with the war. The shortage of men at home opened jobs for women. Many were proud (and possibly relieved) to contribute in valuable ways. Women picked up where men left off, filling job vacancies in factories, farms and offices to keep the country running. The wartime labour force included 1.2 million women including 261,000 in weapons-related work and 50,000 served in uniform.
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Women with children had a different experience. Daycares didn’t exist and mothers relied on grandparents or neighbours for childcare if they wanted to work. The difficulty in finding childcare resulted in a low ratio of employed women who had children.
Wives of military men held a unique position, feeling forgotten while worrying about the safe return of their husbands from Europe. In the Second World War, soldiers often served for years in Europe without coming home. Any leave they might be given, and then only given if they weren’t needed in combat, was spent away from the conflict but still nearby within Europe. Wives at home didn’t see their spouses for three or four years.
Also, financial worries dogged a wife’s daily existence. In 1942, one soldier’s wife received $800 annual income for herself and her son while the average working man’s income reached $1,800. A soldier’s income varied by rank with an allowance for his wife, if married, and each child in the family. One war-time article states that smaller families were encouraged to enlist.
Stan McLean and Hazel Wright married in July 1941. When the war began in 1939, everyone thought it would be over in a few months. Two years later, as it dragged on, the world groaned to have it over with.
Everyone felt pressure to do their part, able-bodied men to enlist and women to keep the country running on the home front.
Stan was 20 when he and Hazel married and he stayed home with his new wife for seven months before enlisting in February 1942.
Stan’s training started in Edmonton where he and Hazel lived. Their son, Milton, was born in July 1942. When Stan was sent to Trenton, Nova Scotia, Calgary and Moncton, New Brunswick, Hazel left the city and moved into the little shack meant for the hired men on Stan’s parents’ farm at Riverton, Alta.
Hazel struggled with loneliness, as well as the demands of caring for a home and her newborn son on her own. As long as he was in Canada, Stan got harvest leave every fall to help his dad bring in the crops. Living on the farm gave Hazel a chance to see Stan on his visits there, and lightened her living expenses.
Hired men’s shacks were common in the days of work horses, followed by the invention of machinery that still required many hands to operate them as well as perform the many other labour intensive farm chores. Usually uninsulated, these shacks offered the barest of shelter, intended only for use in summer and fall. Most offered furnishings of two to four wooden bunks softened by straw-filled mattresses and perhaps a chair or two.
During this time, Hazel gave birth to Valerie in the Lloydminster hospital in September 1944 and Stan’s parents cared for little Milton. Before winter set in, she took her young family to Vancouver to stay with other relatives.
Stan hoped to be a pilot and follow the path of his older brother, Mac, but health concerns hindered those plans.
In part due to previous office training, he was posted as a clerk-steno within Canada.
In 1945 he was stationed to Britain and then Germany after the surrender, working in offices for the allied occupation. His children, Milton and Valerie, were ages three and one. He was honourably discharged Feb. 15, 1946.
It’s uncertain how much he could visit his family while serving in Canada but because of the unstable situation of war, it’s unlikely Hazel saw much of her husband until after his discharge. War service in Europe was a great sacrifice, but life on the home front was no picnic, either.
The wives of the military are often not acknowledged for their silent service to the country. They serve in quiet, lonely ways, raising their children alone, wordlessly worrying about finances, and silently praying for their loved ones overseas, wondering when, or if they’ll return to them. During the Second World War, the urgency of signing up and the temporary nature of most soldier’s enlistment meant that most spouses remained in their previous homes and stations in life, while others like Hazel, relocated to live with relatives during their husbands’ absence.
The period of deployment involves a transition for all members of the family. It requires adjustments in how women manage their work, family, and household roles and is a time when families fear for the safety, lives, and well-being of their loved ones.
The focus was on strength, determination and resiliency. Posters and radio advertisements blared out slogans like, “Do with less so they’ll have more” with a picture of a soldier smiling over his cup of tea. Another with a picture of three women standing together is labelled, “Soldiers at home”. There was little support for anyone dealing with loneliness or depression.
Today, enlistment is more often a life-long career choice and military spouses live on bases where there is access to support programs and recreation, which helps strengthen resilience against loneliness and worry.
The legacy of the war affected all aspects of life in Canada including the family. The baby bonus, introduced in 1945 and later known as the family allowance, paid from $5 to $8 to families with children under 16, helping relieve financial strain. The Central Mortgage and Housing Corp. was created and, now under a different name, still assists in the housing market. Another legacy of the war in negative terms was the significant rise in divorce rate from pre-war days.
Many women who found employment during the war were forced out of their jobs when the men returned from Europe. Society is slow at returning to equal standing for women in the workforce.
Some daycares did exist in Canada before the war but didn’t become common until 1972, instigated by the 1971 Canadian Conference on Daycare, in Ottawa.
Sources for this story included:
A military spouse reflects on life over two decades of war — and what comes next – National Geographic.
Canadiana.ca. 1917 – Canadian Patriotic Fund.
After Victory, the legacy of the necessary war – Canada’s History.
Canadian Women and War – The Canadian Encyclopedia.
The Spokeswoman – Judith Avner.
“How are they at home?” community, state and servicemen’s wives in England, 1939-45 – Women’s History Review.
Canada Remembers Women on the Home Front – Veteran’s Affairs Canada.
Leisure Sciences, Volume 35, 2013, Issue 1. – T. L. Werner.
