Breaking Barriers and Staying Resilient: Black Women during
WWII
Dionne Brand examines the history of Black female entry into
jobs outside of the domestic sphere in “‘We weren’t allowed to go into factory
work until Hitler started the war’: The 1920s to the 1940s”. By interviewing
various women and archiving their experiences during World War II in Canada,
it’s clear that Black women could not access other work fields due to their
race and gender. Black men were regulated to labour-intensive jobs while Black
women were pigeonholed into domestic work. These jobs did not offer women
reasonable pay as some were paid through items of clothing instead of money. As
a result domestic work kept Black women stagnant in the early twentieth century
due to low income and high work demands however the oncoming war opened up the
job market.
Since white men were required to serve for the Canadian
forces, industrial jobs were increasing and allowed women to break gender norms
and access the mechanical work industry. Marjorie Lewsey mentions this in her
anecdote saying, “Really and truly, we weren’t allowed to go into factory work until
Hitler started the war, and then they’d beg you, ‘Would you like a job in my
factory?’ But we weren’t allowed in [before]. We were left more or less to
clean their dirty houses” (Bristow 179).
Black men also considered the war
their opportunity to raise their rank in society through economic means as well
as educational resources offered to soldiers and veterans. As Black men took
these opportunities Black women shared the same beliefs since industrial jobs
offered a consistent and higher salary than domestic work. An anecdote from
Bertha McAleer expresses this as she says, “When I come to think of it – my
goodness, the place could’ve been blown up! You didn’t really think too much
about it, not when you’re younger” (Bristow 185). The increased pay outweighed
working conditions since it was a means to survive and a job opportunity
outside of the tired, unwanted domestic sphere. And even though fighting in the
war and working in industrial factories were marketed as a time to step up for
the country, most people took these jobs for economic purposes rather than following
their patriotic duties.
Factories were often integrated and this gave blacks the
opportunity to demystify myths, stereotypes, and ignorant thoughts that white
people believed. It also proved Black women’s capability to perform the same
amount of work as whites so when the war ended they refused to return to their
previous jobs. The absence in domestic workers eventually caused white women to
resort to migrant workers for their house chores since Black women had opened
up new job markets for themselves after the war and refused to return to their
disliked working standards before.
Acknowledging the previous obstacles set in place to bracket
Black women into certain jobs, their expansion into different work fields was a
product of the war rather than societal changes or governmental policies.
Remembering this is essential in understanding why Black women continuously
have to prove themselves in the workplace since they were never really welcomed
there but rather stayed resilient to keep their jobs in their field. Despite
the new jobs being an opportunity giving them the ability to combat
stereotypical thought, their agency amended a societal norm rather than
removing it all together, allowing it to live on today.
Bristow, Peggy. "'We Weren't Allowed to Go into Factory
Work until Hitler Started the War': The 1920s to the 1940s." We're Rooted
Here and They Can't Pull Us Up: Essays in African Canadian Women's History.
Toronto: U of Toronto, 1994. 171-92. Print.
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