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Social Changes During World War II

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Introduction World War Two brought about worldwide catastrophe and recognition is instinctively given to the cruelty, misery and death that characterised this war. However, in the midst of the brutality there were many positive social changes that brought about the modernisation of society at the time. World War Two bore many great improvements such as the evolutionary technological advancements and the societal breakthroughs for women. Technology advanced significantly as a result of the war, for example, with the development of radar, radio and navigation systems for planes, and penicillin for the troops. This great war led to the employment of women in posts with traditionally male majorities. Even though women had been volunteering in …show more content…

Were people forced to accept these changes? The idea of adapting to the situation is clear when considering the rapid encouragement of women to join the workforce. The British government was under strain due to the shortage of men. The government was stuck with a conundrum because they needed extra manpower and they needed it quickly. It was an ironic situation because Britain was fighting to preserve their way of life and in doing this they needed to change it, by employing women. They looked back to the First World War for answers and found that woman had volunteered to assist in the war effort then. As a result of their findings the government came to the realisation that women were Britain’s untapped resource. They could use women’s employment in World War One to encourage women to work on the home front once again, but this time on a much larger scale. This dramatic change to women’s employment was forced upon the population and societal resistance was futile. How, then, did the government manage to convince so many women to join the war effort? The answer is through the use of propaganda by the government, new opportunities, and women taking action to get the jobs they wanted. There was a demand for equality and eventually, not in these inter-war years but due to these events, that they later received it. Propaganda The British government had to find a way to quickly and effectively encourage women around Britain to help the war

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