KEEPING THE HOME FIRES BURNING

Docufiction     Canada    1988     English    0:49:00                                                                

 “Keeping the Home Fires Burning” explores the experience of Canada's working women during World War II. In two parts: Women and Work : 29:00, Women and Unions : 25:00.

Women and Work : This section highlights non-traditional work in the aircraft, shipbuilding and wood industries in British Colombia, while reminding us that women continued to do the vast majority of traditional service jobs. Using personal memory and humour, women describe their sometimes rocky integration into the labour force and their changing consciousness towards women and work during and after the war.

Women and Unions : The 1940's were a time of rapid growth for British Colombia's trade unions. Not surprisingly, women were swept up in the tide of industrial organization, serving as organizers, stewards and executive members. The reasons for and results of women's union activity emerge through agit-prop dramatization based on the workers theatre of the era and personal testimony.

BIO