Women’s stories during the Alaska Highway construction boom are often untold. The construction of the Alaska Highway was considered a man’s job and relatively few women were recruited. In fact, men outnumbered women by a ratio of approximately 24 to 1! Construction of the highway was in an era with strong traditional gender roles where men were primary wage earners and women cared for the home and children. At the same time, these roles were being challenged during World War II when a male labour shortage caused a drastic increase in women taking on paid work, including jobs traditionally reserved for men.

The first women to work on the highway projects were hired by the U.S. Army, the U.S. Public Roads Administration, and civilian contractors to perform administrative work. These women came from all parts of Canada and the United States to live in places such as Dawson Creek, Whitehorse, Edmonton and Camp Canol (across the river from Norman Wells). Many other women were employed as nurses in military hospitals, waitresses, cooks, launderers, maids and teachers. Often, these women were looking for adventure and a way to help with the war effort. They lived in hastily built barracks that were far from luxurious. Teresa Chanatry remembers:

They assigned us to barracks in the Standard Oil section on "the Hill" and we were bussed to the offices in an area close to "downtown" [Whitehorse]. I remember how sparcely furnished these quarters were, and the common bathroom with no curtains on the windows and no shower curtains! Fortunately, we were soon moved to the buildings set aside for women. (Yukon Archives, Teresa Chanatry fonds, 99/68 MSS 273, p. 2)

In reality women defied the stereotypes, and some U.S. Air Force female pilots flew American planes to Fairbanks to be picked up by Soviet pilots and flown to the eastern front.