Nancy Pelosi once said "Women are leaders everywhere you look-from the CEO who runs a Fortune 500 company to the housewife who raises her children and heads her household. Our country was built by strong women, and we will continue to break down walls and defy stereotypes." As seen today, women have made significant advancements toward equality by being able to vote, holding the same job positions as men and being paid and treated equally in most aspects of life. These advancements are acknowledged as advancements because it fits the definition that they are acts or instances of moving ahead. Woman have strived to make advancements and in many cases they came out victors. Although women are still fighting for equality in some aspects today, their relentless fight most notably began in the early twentieth century and for several years thereafter, they won several battles. Since 1914, women have made impeccable advancements in political, social, and economic aspects in Canada as seen through involvements in World War 1, gain of gender equality and participation in politics.
Women made a breakthrough in 1914 during and after World War 1, where they gained some equality between themselves and men. For many women, the war was an experience that made them feel useful and also gave them the freedom and wages that only men had attained so far. About 1,600,000 women had joined the workforce between 1914 and 1918 and held positions in government departments, in factories, on farms, in public transport, in post offices and also in business to name a few (Martin, 2009).Women became immersed in the male role which was out of their ordinary positions. This was evident because to help in the war effort, Canadian women who were unemployed, or those who had jobs as clerks or domestics previously, were moved into better paying factory jobs where they made uniforms, army boots and munitions as well as other things (Meyer, Gibson, and Staton, 35).