World War I and II changed nursing and nursing culture for the better. It led to greater autonomy within the medical field, garnered more respect for the nursing profession, and was an opportunity for more women to work outside of the home. It helped to spearhead liberal femininity within Canada, and led to greater respect for women in general. Prior to World War I, nurses were seen as caregivers and not much else. Their opinions were seldom respected and other health care professionals, like physicians, saw them primarily as care providers. While many still received training in the form of apprenticeships, they were basically seen as skilled servants who could carry out a physician's orders, but not have much opinion themselves. The World Wars though were an opportunity for nurses to show of their skills in a sense. There were few medically trained people, and as such nurses were in high demand. This lack of physicians led to nurses working outside of their scope of practice in many field hospitals. While ordinarily this may have been a downfall for the nursing profession, it …show more content…
With men being pulled from jobs to fight in the war, it was necessary for women to take over traditionally male dominated jobs. Many women enjoyed this time of working outside of the home, and when the wars were done, had a difficult time returning to their previous lives. Nursing remained a profession in the inter and post war years that was still acceptable for respectable women to work in. This became a source of a movement that was seeing more women work outside of the home than in previous generations. While a lot of women saw this as an intermediary step until they were married, many more saw it as a valuable asset to be had. Compared to other jobs held by women of the time, they were paid well and as such, could be more independent and still be a respectable woman in society (McPherson,