Graduate Students

Hanlon, Sheila - M.A

“Fair Soldiers Of The Soil”:Expressions Of Gender Ideology Within The Women’s Division Of The Ontario Farm Service Force - Dr. Catharine Wilson, advisor        

         During World War II, women were mobilized into the agricultural workforce through a unique war emergency program called the Ontario Farm Service Force. This thesis is an investigation of the extent to which gender ideology was employed within this organization in order to integrate young urban women into agriculture without breaking gender barriers. This concept is traced as it was exhibited as part of the identification of women as a reserve of potential agrarian labourers, an adherence to gender ideals as a template for the division of labour and management of workers, and the propaganda utilized to recruit and represent the Farmerettes. Much of the overall success of Ontario Farm Service Force's women's divisions can be attributed to the organization's careful adherence to existing gender constructs. The Ontario Farm Service Force provided a unique opportunity for cosmopolitan women to participate in the war effort through agrarian labour, and presents an interesting index of World War II era gender ideals that is of intrigue to the historian.