Overall Objective
This unit focuses on how much the role of women in the workplace changed in the 20th century. The critical time period here is WWII.

Grade level
Advanced 9–12 and beyond. This unit can be adapted to younger grades and different courses of study in various Canadian provinces and territories.

Content Areas
Social Studies
History
English/Language Arts
Multimedia/Video Editing
Canadian Studies
Women’s Studies

Materials Required
Access to a computer lab, Internet connection, Web camera, proxima projector, digital camera/recording device. If a media/digital course – editing software/equipment would be required.

Summary
They raised children, baked cakes... and built world-class fighter planes. Sixty years ago, thousands of women from Thunder Bay and the Prairies donned trousers, packed lunch pails and took up rivet guns to participate in the greatest industrial war effort in Canadian history. Like many other factories across the country from 1939 to 1945, the shop floor at Fort William's Canadian Car and Foundry was transformed from an all-male workforce to one with 40 per cent female workers.

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