International Women’s Day is March 8. It is a time to celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women, past, present and future.
In upcoming blog stories I plan to write in-depth about the experiences of frontier women, war brides and females in the military. In recognition of International Women’s Day I wanted to briefly acknowledge the contributions of these brave women. I look forward to learning and writing more about them.
Pioneers
The journey female homesteaders faced reaching their destination and surviving was a difficult one filled with challenges.
Looks can be deceiving; and a lot can be accomplished wearing a dress. They worked in the fields, hauled water, helped butcher animals, milked cows, washed clothes on a scrub board and hand made many of the things they needed, all while wearing a dress. One lady recounted how the seat of her grandmother’s skirt wore out from being jostled around in a wagon.
It took time to break enough land to set up a homestead; in the meantime, they lived in tents, wagons or shacks. Often they had to deal with illness and childbirth without any medical assistance.
Once the women were settled, they spent long periods isolated. Neighbours were few and far between and trips to town were a special occasion. One must remember that in those early years, Leask was the size of four square blocks. Possibly, though, existing in the middle of nowhere for a long time made visiting four square blocks seem exciting.
With pure blind faith, they followed the men they loved over oceans, train tracks and wagon trails in pursuit of a better way of life. Some found what they were looking for, while others did not.
Mrs. Stella Gerich, Leask area
(Leask History Book)
War Brides
Love can blossom in difficult life circumstances. Canadian soldiers serving overseas married and had children with women from England, the Netherlands and other countries. When the soldiers started returning home, the issue of reuniting them with their wives and children became a significant challenge for the government and the army. In the 1940s, thousands of wives and children were brought to Canada.
War bride and her child en route
to Canada 1944.
War bride on a ship bound for
Canada 1946.
Not all soldiers reported their marriages and dependents when they returned, although many came to light through the years anyway. Some ladies arrived at the train station in Canada only to find a note from their husband pinned to the message board saying he had changed his mind and would not be picking her up.
These gals arrived to significantly better conditions than the frontier women thirty years before had, but it was still no picnic. The thrill of new love and the excitement of travel was soon replaced by the realization that they were coming into an unknown lifestyle, in-laws that may not accept them and a home that was nothing like what had been described to them.
Women in the Military
The gut-wrenching image of a deployment goodbye is a familiar one that hits me in the feels every single time.
In 2021 Ukraine celebrated 30 years of independence from the Soviet Union. In the past year, the world has been witness to a continuous live stream of war images from Ukraine. The unprecedented advancements in technology and communication make this a vastly different war from the one my parents recounted from the 1940s when a letter from a soldier took months to reach its destination.
Females have been a part (currently 22 %) of the Ukrainian military since 1993, and in 2018 they began taking on combat roles such as tank drivers and snipers. At the end of last year all eligible Ukrainian women were required to register for military conscription as the threat of war loomed.
Females from all walks of life continue to join the war effort, including members of parliament and beauty queens. The image of this 79-year-old lady, in her gold jacket, lying on the ground receiving rudimentary rifle training, is stuck in my mind.
Men 18 to 60 years of age are not allowed to leave the country as they are needed for the war effort. This leaves many women either fleeing the country with their children or hunkering down and staying put, a difficult decision indeed.
With many families fleeing, getting out of the country was extremely difficult followed by an unplanned arrival in another country. With massive lineups and over 80 hour waits at borders, vehicles ran out of gas leaving women and children stranded.
Daily, women around the world continue to stand their ground for what they believe in. They put their fears aside and persevere. These women have absolutely earned a respected place in history.
Other blog stories about strong females:
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