"Ever since the war, women have been working, it emancipated womanhood in one way.”

esting in her favourite armchair overlooking the view from her Newmarket apartment, 84-year-old Marjory Foster reminisces on what turned out to be her personal part in the liberation of a woman’s role in society. Peering out from her balcony with eyes that have seen what the youth of today couldn’t imagine, clutching her uncle’s medals with the hands that helped pave the way for womanhood, Foster explains how the roles of women changed from being solely within the home, to becoming an important part of the working class

The year was 1939 when it all began; it was a regular Sunday morning in the city of London when Marge, her father, mother, and sister were sitting down to Sunday breakfast. This particular traditional Sunday routine started off like all the rest, but became one of her most memorable occasions. The heart wrenching news wafted into the dinner like a bad smell, a call from the prime minister informing that England was now a part of the Second World War.

Foster explains that immediately she and her sister were stricken with panic and fear. Her father then turned to them and commanded, “We are in war now, and I don’t want to see any scared faces!” Shrieks from the air raid sirens then signalled the beginning of the ruthless air attacks that henceforth riddled the city on a daily bases, “All I can remember is how loud they were! It was enough to scare a person skinny.” The people of London were then instructed to head underground into the subway stations until the threat of overhead bombing lightened up.

Immediate changes in England began to take place; draft letters requesting men of fit age to be called to war. Unlike majority of the men in England, Foster’s father was far too old to be called for draft. Instead he was called to the fire-service patrolling the roofs of buildings extinguishing fires created from the overhead bombs. With all the men leaving for the war, England resorted to recruiting woman for the first time ever into the work force. Foster recalls the day when a note was delivered to each house requesting women to partake in the war efforts, providing women with their first chance to work outside of the home.

During the day, Foster’s father helped manage a munitions factory where ammunition, guns and metals that helped the war were manufactured. This is where Foster got one off her first jobs. Although, she describes it as being not as ritzy as first imagined, as it consisted of pulling a leaver which brought a drill down upon a metal sheet. However, Foster recalls the sense of freedom that she and many of the women around her were now experiencing. “It was strange having our own money and responsibilities outside the home. Money before had belonged to the men, but with our own jobs we were now able to hold our own, buy things, and go places.”

Although there were more freedoms when it came to receiving an income, it also put a strain on the home-life. Even though the women’s career consisted of life beyond the home, women were still expected to maintain both of the active roles. “Well of course the men expected the same standards of home life although we were now working,” Foster explains. “The house was to be kept clean and dinner was to be on the table at five every night.”

In addition to the new life that women now had to live, there was also the constant threat warfare that remained the back of everyone’s minds. Foster explains that the enemy aircraft would target built up areas such as the factories and buildings in their attacks so it was a dangerous endeavour to even go to work.

Even when the people of London came home from their long hard day work the threat remained. Like clockwork, at nine-o-clock every night droves of enemy planes would sweep across London bombing houses, buildings and sometimes schools. Foster recalls that it was hard to get any sleep with the constant fear of being harmed by these attacks remained in the back everyone’s head.

Foster elaborates, “Each person with a garden was given a ration of tin and supplies to construct their very own bomb shelters.” Families were encouraged to dig a large hole into their backyards and construct an in-ground shelter to protect from bomb threats and shrapnel.

London also recommended that everyone go underground into the subway stations when these nightly attacks would occur. People would bring sleeping-bags to the subways and pick a spot to get a good night’s sleep. However, Foster and her family grew tired of the what she explains as, “the dirty tube station” and instead took the risk of sleeping at home in a large broom cupboard underneath their stairs.

Foster clarifies that, “Underneath the stairs was said to be the strongest part of the house. But I remember seeing many houses that were completely destroyed, and the stairs really hadn’t made a difference.”

Years later, the tyranny of the war finally ended and the men, including her husband Shaun Foster were beginning the return home and the job positions began to run short. Foster says that this is when Canada began recruiting men and women overseas to begin a new life with the promise of job opportunities. Selling everything that they had in England, Mr. and Mrs. Foster moved to start a new life in Canada.

With the experience of working in the factories, and the hospital, for so many years under her belt, Foster was able to begin her own career in Canada and has since worked all the way up until her retirement at 58-years-old.

“It’s astonishing how far women have come in [my] lifetime”

When speaking of the active roles that women play in the workforce today, Foster has nothing but praise saying that it’s astonishing how far women have come in her lifetime, from a woman’s place being in the home to now-a-days where women are required to obtain an income in a dual effort to support the home and family.

Written by Jordanna Davey - February, 2010