When we look at the history of women's paid work in Canada, we can see that society has come a long way. Previously, women's work was domestic, in the private sphere. Her job consisted of taking care only of the house and the children. Rarely would we see women working for a wage commensurate with poor women; just because their families needed the income. Mainly, the only jobs available to women were domestic service, work related to the private sphere of the home. People believed that if a woman had a paid job, she would take away a man's salary, otherwise she would become too manly. During World War II, this belief changed; women now had to be an essential part of the workforce. Women were desperately needed to replace men at work while they were away fighting the war. In essence, World War II opened the door to women working outside the home and redefined the role of women in the paid work sector. The Second World War redefined Canadian women's work in factories as well as typical men's jobs. This period of time allowed white women and black women to find a place in the workplace. For starters, during the 19th and early 20th centuries Canada was industrializing; thus, there was a shift from rural agriculture to urban industrialism. This meant that women could no longer participate in family earnings, in the family act of living off the fruits of their agricultural labor, because men were transferred to factories where wages existed. Women were excluded from this type of work due to an “ideology of domesticity” that stated that “women should be mothers and housewives and show piety, purity, domesticity and submission.” It was believed that if women entered... middle of paper... n's Work': The sexual division of labor in the automobile industry during the Second World War. In Women and Power: In American History, 3rd ed., edited by Katheryn K. Sklar and Thomas Dublin. New Jersey: Pearson, 2009. 242-252Pierson, Ruth Roach. "Canadian Women and the Second World War". Canadian Historical Association, n. 37 (1983): 3-27.Rupp, Leila J.. “From Rosie the Riveter to the Global Assembly Line: American Women on the World Stage.” History magazine OAH 18, n. 4 (2004): 53-57.Simmons, Christina. “Employment Overview.” Classroom Lecture, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, February 28, 2012. Toman, Cynthia. “Frontlines and Frontiers: War as Legitimate Work for Nurses, 1939-1945.” In Rethinking Canada: The Promise of Women's History, 6th ed., edited by Mona Gleason, Adele Perry, and Tamara Myers. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press, 2011. 242-255.