Comfort Women Research Paper

The lives of American women changed with the presence of new job opportunities. Previous to this time in history, women were given jobs that seemed traditional. For instance, housewives and those who take care of domestic affairs. However, soon after America’s entry to WWII, this began to change. It was evident that with war to the east and west of America every citizen had to do their part to back up the Allies as well as defeat the Japanese. Corporations such as Women’s Army Corps or WAC provided women with jobs. Most of these jobs were non-combative positions in the military. Women were now able to take the jobs left behind by men now fighting in the war.

During World War II, thousands of women in various nations were deeply involved in volunteer work alongside men. Before World War II, the women’s role was simply to be a wife to her husband, a mother to her children, and a caretaker to the house (Barrow). As World War II raged on, women made enormous sacrifices for their family, and also learnt new jobs and new skills. Women were needed to fill many “male jobs”, while men went off to fight in the war. Women served with distinction in The Soviet Union, Britain, Japan, United States, and Germany and were urged to join armed forces, work in factories, hospitals, and also farms to support the soldiers fighting the war. During this time, women took on the dual

The Fifteen-Year War was a time of great turmoil and uncertainty in Japan. Various facets of the country were tested and driven to their limits. During the occupation, race and gender began to evolve in ways that had not exactly be seen before. War had a tremendous impact on every part of the life of a Japanese citizen. Both men and women began to fill roles that were completely novel to them. Race became a part of the definition of who people were. As the war progressed and American troops landed on Japanese soil for occupation, more drastic changes occurred. Economic hardship and rations befell the people of the Land of the Rising Sun. Prostitution began to rear its ugly head and rape transpired. Through memory, research, and vivid

In Our Mother’s War, Emily Yellin provides a compelling and eye-opening account of the many roles of women during World War II. Our Mother’s War was inspired by Yellin’s mother, Carol Lynn, who had lived through World War II and had been a Red Cross volunteer in the Pacific. After Yellin’s mother had died, Yellin had came upon an old manila envelope which contained many of her mother’s letters and dairy. Through these writings, Yellin realized for the first time the sacrifices women made for the war, and after being inspired to know more about the roles of women during World War II, she set out on a mission to unearth stories which have never been displayed before. Being a journalist and daughter of a World War II woman uniquely qualified Yellin to paint a vivid picture of the accounts of women during the war. through the use of letters and writings.

The women living in rural areas were still expected to serve as housewives who tended to their children’s and husband’s every need. “The average wife and mother’s situation” (source 4) included, but was not limited to “cooking, cleaning, laundering, sewing, meal planning, weekday chauffeuring, social secretarial service, and complete care of [her] children” (source 4). Even women who were trained in professional fields, such as nursing or law, were rid of their intelligence and abilities and were engulfed in the responsibilities of domestic life. Women in the army during World War II experienced great levels of discrimination and were looked down upon by the men in the army. Genevieve Chasm, a lieutenant in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps

The role of females (regardless of loyalties) shifted dramatically from household partners to that of logisticians, medical and intelligence. While we are provided the details of camp followers and sutlers which have been part of military life since time immemorial, women took on various roles that were not explicitly conceived of in the

During the war, women took on new roles that they hadn’t before in the time period’s society. One example of this was using women to deliver secret

Through the war effort, women solidified their place in society as capable and responsible citizens by working jobs they had never worked before, managing finances and other aspects of home life, and entering the war as soldiers who helped wage against the Axis powers. Women proved for the first time that they were more than just housewives who could sometimes work in factories when the nation was in trouble. General Eisenhower said that “The contribution of the women of America, whether on the farm or in the factory or in uniform, to D-Day was a sine qua non (essential part) of the invasion effort”.1 Some of these women even served as nurses on the front lines and lost their lives defending our soldiers.

At this point in time, many women were camp followers. These were the wives, daughters, and mothers of soldier’s – often poor, they were unable to support themselves without their husband’s income.1 One of the

The dust storms, the communal mess halls, and the open latrines are culturally insensitive examples of Japanese Americans at Manzanar. First, the living environment in the internment camps is harsh. Dust and sand cover the entire bare floor. They envelop the people’s entire mattress, clothes, furniture, and so on. The dust is so bad that Jeanne’s mother has to exclaim: “We can’t live like this. Animals live like this” (26). Next, with the birth of the communal mess halls, the internees stop eating as a family. Jeanne’s mother has to bring food to Granny in the barrack. Jeanne and her siblings begin eating with their friends, or they try other mess halls for better food. The Jeanne’s family “after three years of mess hall living, collapsed as an integrated unit” (37). Lastly, the foul latrines without partition make the living condition in the internment camps not only unclean, but lack of privacy at least a person should have. Like most of the people there, the using of latrines is a humiliation for Jeanne’s mother and she “just learned to endure: shikata ga nai, this cannot be helped” (33).

The Rape of Nanking, by Iris Chang, describes the Japanese atrocities that took place in Nanking, China during World War II. Throughout their takeover and occupation of Nanking, the Japanese soldiers were exceedingly cruel to the Chinese people. According to Chang’s account and analysis of the events that transpired, Japanese attitudes towards gender played a key role in the soldiers’ violent, cold-blooded actions, and Chinese attitudes towards gender kept the victims silent.

The author instills emotion in the audience by using many true cases to create a lasting impression on them about the reasons for “fears of putting women in the trenches” (Collins 2) that could contribute to the lack of respect they are getting for wanting combat roles because of them. She mentions a true scenario case involving “Shoshana Johnson, a cook [who] was shot in both ankles, taken captive and held for 22 days” (Collins 2).

The common thought of all men during the World Wars were that women and war were not compatible, for the two of them did not mix in any way. Regarding the men away at war, these men when injured needed

Women served an important role in WWII. They not only took the challenge and stepped up to take the places of the men off fighting in the war to work in factories, but they also fought side by side with those risking their lives and fighting for their country. They were needed everywhere during the war. There were an unbelievable amount of job opportunities for women during the war and many supported the brave acts of voluntary enlistment. “‘A woman’s place is in the home’ was an old adage, but it still held true at the start of World War II. Even though millions of women worked, home and family we considered the focus of their lives” says Brenda Ralf Lewis. Without the help of those women who were brave enough to

Japanese military leaders formulated the concept of comfort women in order to stop soldiers from committing sexual violence towards women they might encounter. Japanese Lieutenant-General Okamura Yasuji proposed that comfort women should be shipped to Shanghai to solve the problem of 223 rapes reportedly committed by troops there (Kim). One former comfort woman reported that in some places, soldiers were so desperate for some kind of outlet for their sexual desires that they had intercourse with dogs (Kim in Schellstede 32). It is estimated that over 125 million forced sexual acts took place between Japanese soldiers and comfort women in the span of only five years (Kim). The Japanese military made soldiers pay to have sex with comfort women. The prices were as follows: 1.50 yen for privates, 2 yen for non-commissioned officers, 2.50 yen for junior officers, and 3 yen for senior officers (Hicks 19). Concerned for the health of their soldiers, Japanese military leaders provided condoms to thwart the spread of any sexually transmitted diseases; however, these condoms were often