Sniper Girls and Fearless Heroines: Wartime Representations of Foreign Women in English-Canadian Press, 1941-1943

How the press portrayed the thousands of women who took on military roles during the Second World War, is the focus of this chapter. More specifically, articles published by Canadian press during the years 1941-43 are examined; by this time, France had fallen to Germany and was home to resistance movements, and the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union had passed from near victory to looming defeat. The Canadian government had also established women's military services and was spearheading a promotional campaign to encourage women to participate in war work. These events increased press interest in the roles played by women in war, both in Canada and abroad. [Author]