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Winter
2005
Canadian
Pacific Railway Employee Communications
Room 500 401-9th Ave S.W. Calgary AB T2P
4Z4
Women Railroaders: A Closer
Look at Exceptional Women
Left: A three-women
CPR work gang in Revelstoke during the Second World War. Right: CPR conductor
Leanne Stapley, left, and CPR engineer Victoria Baird chat at the
exhibit.
A travelling exhibit, first shown in 2003 at
Montreal's Exporail: Canadian Railway Museum, is now up and running at the
Revelstoke Railway Museum.
"In railway stations, in offices, and later aboard trains, women offered
services to maximize the well-being of passengers", says a
promotional blurb. "Yet, women were also hired for non-traditional
manual labour. Sometimes "white collar" and sometimes "blue
collar", women are often still seen as the "pink collar" workers of
the railway society.
"There is a history of railway women, one that needs to be discovered, not
through old books written by men, but through the testimonies of these female
pioneers. Despite negative perceptions, particularly those that make out women as a
marginal lot, these women have succeeded in demonstrating their ability to take
their rightful place beside men in a world that was, up until then, closed and
hostile.
"The history of railway women is, by the force of nature, the story of their
fight for equal status and equal access to the workplace. It is a story of obstacles
and of sometimes epic battles, of victories, and defeats. Above all, it is a history
in progress that we wish to tell in the hope that it will awaken in you the desire
to learn more about this other railway era".
If you're in Revelstoke between now and 31 May 2005, stop by to check
it out. For more information about he Revelstoke Railway Museum, log on to the museum website.
Note: Leanne Stapley commenced engineer training on
30 May 2005.
This Momentum magazine article is copyright 2005 by
Canadian Pacific Railway and is reprinted here with their permission. All
photographs, logos, and trademarks are the property of the Canadian
Pacific Railway Company.
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