Veronica “Ronnie” Foster poses with a Bren gun she just finished making at the John Inglis factory in Toronto. She doesn’t look so glamorous in this publicity photo, but Ronnie was attractive and her image was used as a morale booster in Canadian factories during the Second World War — a Canadian version of Rosie the Riveter. Up until then, the idea of women working on the line alongside the men was unthinkable. Curiously, they also photographed women workers doing more normal things, like hanging around the beach or going to a club for drinks.
World War Two, while horrific in terms of casualties, did have an upside. It turned Canada, America and most of the Commonwealth into industrial powerhouses, ones where women became respected, not only as mothers, but as skilled industrial labourers, eventually even as soldiers. Factory worker or Captain, they all need to be remembered too.
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten