September 2/article

On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland and set off the Second World War. While the United States would not enter the conflict for more than another two years, Britain and the Commonwealth faced down the Nazi menace from the beginning. Almost immediately, English and Canadian women were called to fill the industrial jobs that would otherwise be left to the men, who were signing up for the fight by the tens of thousands on both sides of the Atlantic. The war would forever change the so-called "gender dynamic" of the western workforce. Before the final surrender of Japan (on this day in 1945), every American would know exactly who Rosie the Riveter was. And every Canadian would know "Ronnie, the bren gun girl." (And she's quite a dish, too...)