Woman on the Waterfront project aims to honour female war volunteers

A women's group in Halifax will launch a special waterfront project today.

The Halifax Women's History Society wants to build a monument to recognize the thousands of women who volunteered during wartime.

"Our goal is to erect a statue or series of statues that will honour and commemorate the staggering amount of work done by women volunteers during the Second World War," said society chair Janet Guildford.

The group has named the project WOW,which stands for A Woman on theWaterfront.

Guildfordsaidwomen are rarely portrayed in Halifax-area statues.

"There are more than a hundred monuments in the HRM,but less than a dozen depict women," she said. "Andmostly they're mythological women.We have fairies and nymphs, for example, in the Public Gardens."

The Halifax Port Authority has given the group a site across from the Halifax Seaport Market on which the statue can be built.

Guildford estimates the project will cost $750,000.So far, the group has collected $100,000.

She saidthey are "deep in the process of attracting private and public funds," with a significant contribution from an anonymous donor.

The municipality has kicked things off with a couple of small grants, she said, and nowthe Women's History Society is looking for help from the province and the federal governments.

But in the meantime, it hasput out a proposal for femalesculptors to bid on the project.Guildford expects A Woman on the Waterfronttobe erected in 2017.