Abstract
Teaching and nursing were frequent career choices for
unmarried, middle-class women in the Great War era, but only
nurses were eligible for active service in Canadian military
hospitals overseas. Teachers were expected to remain at home,
volunteering for patriotic projects like other women. This role
proved too passive for some, who relinquished their careers to
become, temporarily, Voluntary Aid Detachment nurses (VADs);
many served in British military hospitals overseas. The history
of this unique group offers new insights into societal
expectations for Canadian women’s professional work in the early
twentieth century. The transformation of teachers into nurses
during the crisis of war was legitimized by the substitution of
gender and class attributes for specialized training, allowing
women teachers the otherwise unattainable opportunity for active
service abroad. Their experience raises important issues
regarding the meaning of “professional identity” in traditional
women’s occupations, and professional development later in the
century.
