Women and Families Respond to War

The war years in Halifax brought dramatic changes to the role of women at home and in the community. Jobs traditionally held by men suddenly became vacant, opening up new opportunities and frontiers for women — who were more than ready for the challenge.

As government employees, they helped to administer price controls, food and fuel rationing, and citizen registration requirements — war measures that reached into every corner of every home. In industry, they picked apples, packed fish, and helped build boats and technical equipment. As volunteers, they worked in canteens, service clubs and hostels, providing food, entertainment and a 'home away from home' for the thousands of troops who flooded into the city.

Women joined the military as nurses and went with the Overseas Nursing Divisions, or remained behind and cared for those invalided home. Others joined the Canadian Women's Army Corps, the Canadian Women's Auxiliary Air Force, and the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service. Many others volunteered full or part-time with the Canadian Red Cross.

Family life was strained under the restrictions and deprivations of war, but again, wives and mothers rose to the challenge and learned to do 'more with less' — especially in the kitchen where wartime cookbooks promoted food rationing, with the ingredients adjusted accordingly.

Almost every family had someone serving overseas. There were no phone calls, e-mails or text messages; telegrams were dreaded. Instead, letters — all of them opened and censored, of course — travelled back and forth as lifelines of continuity, bearing the news of everyday life.

The welcome extended to Guest Children evacuated to Canada from Great Britain after the London Blitz was warm and enduring, a high-note of the war years; many were billeted with Halifax families for the duration and some remained afterwards. The significance of their arrival was not matched until war's end, when nearly 45,000 war brides arrived in Canada — most of them via Halifax — with 21,000 children in tow.

More information:

Canadian Women's Army Corps
Wartime Cookbooks
British Guest Children