Racism and Anti-Sexism

Racism is believing that one race is superior to another race, and that one race is inferior to the other. It’s the belief that a person’s social value is based on their biological features. During the war there were cases where this took place. Like I talked about before, black people were not allowed to fight in the war (in combat) just because their skin was a different colour. Black people were not the only races that were affected by racism and segregation. First Nations were treated differently than blacks, because they had a reputation when fighting in wars from past wars that took place in Canada. The government still didn’t really know what to do with aboriginal volunteers because the Canadian government was afraid that the Germans wouldn’t show mercy to those they captured on the battlefield. By the time the war was over, only about 4,000 of the volunteers were of aboriginal descent. When Britain declared war on Germany in August 1914 the first recruits and soldiers were white and spoke english (because they were the most loyal to Britain). Around 60% of Canadian soldiers were of British descent, 30% were men that were born in Canada, and the other 10% were “other”. So, as you can see, most of the soldiers were white and spoke english, this is because at the time racism was a huge problem. People who weren’t British or Canadian born were looked down on either because of their skin colour or their culture. In Canada, 1914, there was a “scale”. White males were at the top of the scale, followed by white immigrants from other European countries, than white immigrants from non-european countries. Non-white Canadians were usually at the bottom of the scale.

Another problem that took place during and after the first world war was sexism. Men were viewed superior to women. Before the war, women didn’t have jobs. They were expected to stay home to care for the children and do housework. They did these things while the men were off working. Women were also not allowed to own their property, the property was considered a belonging to the husband. The husband was the only one that could end a relationship, so women didn’t have the right to divorce their husband, or keep their children. Once Canada joined the war, things began to change. Almost every man was drafted into thE army either by conscription or voluntary. The women were now expected to take the men’s jobs while they were overseas. This gave women a chance to show people what they were capable of doing in the workplace. The only problem was that, when women took the men’s jobs they weren’t paid as much as the men would have been payed, which is another example of sexism. Another problem was that women were expected to give the men their jobs back when they returned home from the war, and women would just go back to doing housework. Some women were even sent overseas as nurses,  and the were given an officer position. Which basically means they had power over the male soldiers while they were fighting overseas. Women on the homefront did lots of different kinds of jobs, some of them were working in war factories assembling supplies for the army. Women were able to bring money home to support their families. Normally, bringing money home was the man’s job, but they obviously weren’t able to because they were fighting in the war. This also gave women an opportunity to learn new skills. For example, nurses who went to serve overseas and now learned new medical abilities, this would be a skill that they could use when they returned home. I think the war was a major turning point for women in the workforce because they were able to earn money, learn new skills and show the rest of society what they were capable of doing in terms of the workforce.

I think that the first world war was a turning point for segregation, sexism and racism in Canada. Although these things were still major issues, there was hope for groups of people who had been previously affected by sexism or racism. When women were given a chance to be in the workforce people began to realize that women were just as capable as men in some areas. Also, when blacks were given the opportunity to serve their country overseas, it was a step in the right direction for elimination of racism and segregation in Canada. The first world war was certainly a turning point for many groups of people in Canada.