‘I Do Think We Can Carry On’: The Women’s War Efforts Committee of the Canadian Jewish Congress, 1939-1946
DOI :
https://doi.org/10.25071/1916-0925.40145Résumé
La participation de la communauté juive à l’effort de guerre du Canada pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale fait l’objet d’études académiques depuis des décennies. Toutefois, ces études ont généralement pris pour objet principal les participants de genre masculin, que ce soit à titre de soldats ou de membres d’organismes bénévoles, notamment le Congrès juif canadien (CJC). Dans la mesure où les contributions des femmes ont été soulignées, il s’est généralement agi de mentions symboliques évoquant un certain travail bénévole indéfini ou encore des activités poursuivies en tant qu’épouses ou en tant que mères de soldats, négligeant ainsi les efforts monumentaux des femmes juives. En particulier, le Comité de l’effort de guerre des femmes (Women’s War Efforts Committee ou WWEC) du CJC a consacré des milliers d’heures non rémunérées à la collecte de fonds, à la gestion d’une ligue pour femmes, pour mères et pour enfants de soldats et au travail en commun avec d’autres organismes féminins visant à appuyer l’effort de guerre. Cependant, ce qui a eu le plus d’impact auprès de leurs concitoyens canadiens, c’est le travail du WWEC sur des projets de grande envergure tels que l’aménagement d’espaces de loisirs sur les bases des forces armées canadiennes et l’ouverture de centres pour soldats à travers le Canada. Cet article explorera comment les activités du WWEC ont accru la visibilité de la communauté juive et contribué à faire évoluer l’opinion public canadien à son sujet : d’un groupe d’immigrants indésirables, la communauté juive s’est transformée, aux yeux des Canadiens, en groupe minoritaire apprécié. En outre, il sera question, dans cet article, des tensions homme-femme au sein du CJC, ainsi que des rôles publics changeants des femmes au sein de la communauté juive.
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