The Changing Employment Opportunities of Women During the First World War in Britain

Throughout history women have been the underdog. They have no other use than to mother a child, cater to their spouse and take care of the home. Women are more than housekeepers and have much more capabilities than men realized especially before World War II. The change in role for women before, during and after World War II shifted dramatically, some for better and some for worst.

Prior to World War II, many women were unemployed, due to the Great Depression which had started a decade before. With men always getting preference for jobs, there were very few jobs left for women. Consequently, not only were many occupations were reserved for men, but men were also paid wages up to five times higher for the same task as women. Some states also barred married women from holding jobs. However during World War II, America produced at an efficiency which was higher than ever. This meant that the women had an increasing number of jobs. Jobs in the public sector opened up. Since 1939, women progressively changed the idea of patriarchy and the cliché thinking of an average woman in the United States to be a wife and mother.

Before the World War II, many women only held jobs in the house providing for their children, husband, and the needs that came with taking care of the household, but during the war, this completely changed. Many women were given new opportunities consisting of new jobs, new skills, new challenges, and greater chances to do things that were once only of imagination to them. Women made the war especially possible with taking over the jobs that men would usually do, but could not do because of the war. One of the first things that encouraged women to take on jobs of the men who went off to war was the propaganda. Propaganda consisted of films, radio, and print. These advertisements used showed women fighting in the army and many working in

During World War II there were many job opportunities for women. The war opened new doors during a time of depression. As husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers went to fight in the war the women went to work at factories, offices, and even on military bases. These women went to work in paying jobs that were usually for men. Many women became journalists, photographers and broadcasters. They were covering the biggest story ever, the men that were at war and the women that were at home doing the man’s work. Women even joined the military. They were not put in front line positions but they did important jobs and many lost their lives. During the war it was not only the white

The Employment Opportunities of Women in Britain in 1914 Woman in Britain in 1914 had several job opportunities and from this period onwards the number of employed women began to rise significantly. This coursework will cover the following points; the kind of work women did, the payment they received and the working conditions under which they worked and chances of progress for women workers. One of the main reasons for these conditions was that most of the governmental departments were dominated by men whilst women were society’s stereotypes. The other main factors include the lack of female education on a further degree and Victorian attitudes at that time.

Undeniably, the outlook of women in the workforce changed following the advent of World War II. Traditionally, the role of caretaker of the house and home was assigned to the woman. Society and institutions facilitated, accepted and supported this way of thinking and way of life. Working outside the home was considered "a man's job". A woman expressing an interest in being anything other than a homemaker and wife was frowned upon. Accepted was the notion that men are better laborers and a woman could not perform at the same level as a man and therefore are undesirable candidates for work in the office or in factories. When America entered in the Second World War, the role of women as primarily stewards of the home was forever changed. As men answered the call of duty, they left behind a void not only in the hearts of their loved ones but also in the workplace. During this time not only were vacancies found in the work that once employees turned soldiers left behind but also we witnessed an increase of labor need for specific industries, such as those that supported the wartime efforts. Women entered the workforce in droves, filling the much needed void in the offices and the factories. Women become the soldiers on the home front and once the war was over, there was no erasing the progress women made in proving capable and ready to hold gainful employment outside the home. This paper addresses women in the workforce,

The contribution of women to the war effort changed drastically throughout World War One and the 1920’s. Their role in the beginning of the war was not very significant. Women, for the most part, were expected to be primarily involved in "duties at home" and "women's work" but as time progressed, their roles during the war changed drastically due to employment, The Person’s Case and the change of women in society. Women's involvement in the war effort undoubtedly helped Canada win the war.

Rose the Riveter is an icon that came out in the world war time. Back then women were entering the workforce in abundance of numbers during World War II. Women became the people to work when a wide spread of enlistments left holes in the industrial labor force. “Rosie the Riveter,” became the star in the 1940 and 1945 when the female percentage increased ten percent from twenty seven percent to nearly thirty seven percent. Also in 1945 almost every four women worked outside their homes. Rosie became the governments campaign aimed for the recruitment of women in the work place. Women worked in positions that use to be a male dominate work place. The women increased in female workers each year as needed. In 1943 women nearly more than

Throughout the existence of humans, women have been reprimanded, oppressed, and have been completely controlled by the male population. Women have been degraded, oppressed, and controlled with no room for retribution. Whether it is an over-controlling father, or an abusive husband, women have had barely any say in what happened to them. They were robots-child bearers, and housewives before they were persons. Only during the 20th century did women start to make an impact and gain some headway towards gender equality. As opportunities occurred women reached, grasped and seized them. They used these opportunities to their full potential. The role of women in WW1, the Person’s Case, and the Famous Five, were all-important turning points in the

One interpretation shows that women benefited politically from the war after the end of WW1. Source A1, highlights how WW1 impacted both women as a whole, as well as the Suffrage movement, by showing that they were a crucial part in Britain's success in the war. The source shows an extract from the BBC Website in 2008, states how women benefited from the war, both politically, and in terms of equality, as shown in February 1918, where they receive the right to vote, in the "Representation of People Act" (exclusive only women over 30), which led to 8 million women being eligible to vote by 1918, showing female advancement in politics. The source is also accurate in saying that role of women was significant during WW1 (60% of all shells were

In the modern society that we know of today, the roles between man and women are considerably equal, but this balance is a relatively new occurrence that began taking form in the years of war. The advancing roles of women have taken huge leaps recently and are expected to advance even further in coming years, but in order to accurately predict future trends, society must recall the events in history that aided and created opportunities for the advancement of not only women but for almost all ethnic minorities and even the younger demographic. World War II was the historical event that gave women the greatest opportunity for social advancement. World War II provided employment and social advancement opportunities for women and ethnic minorities,

WW1 allowed many women in the early 20th century to show they were capable of working and running a society while the men were away fighting. During this time many job opportunities opened up, many of which in civil service, which gave women the opportunity to have a higher paying, more skilled job, contrasting greatly to the typical tedious jobs such as cooking and cleaning which they were expected to do. This gave women much more financial stability and independence demonstrating that they were much more able and useful members of society than lots of men thought they were. However this may not have caused permanent change in the view of women in society as when the war ended and men returned, they took back most of their jobs and a lot of

Women's roles in the home during that time was to ensure the comfort of the entire family.  Her primary role was as wife and mother.  A society needs a way to procreate and you could not do that without women, after all, how would a society get more people? She also had to have a lot of knowledge about farming. Knowing how to farm was how families were fed. Her role of course, was doing the traditional duties of cooking and cleaning, as most of her responsibilities were centered around being at home.  The condition and circumstances during that time was to manage the basics of living day to day on a plot of land.

The role of women in war has varied significantly throughout British History. During world War 1 womens role was constricted as many worked in the industry of textiles , knitting and munitions. This said they played a pivotal role in the war effort as 23.8 million in britain were all working. Voluntary and paid positions were taken up as unfamiliar roles to women, Nevertherless this was recquired in order to sustain the living of many families. World War 1 illustrated the capability of women in wokring across a variety of fields. However the effort from women was arguably taken out of context. Despite the rise in pay , women still earned less then men. They held the responisibility of working as a generation of men went to fight. This covered munitions, police patrols and even nursing.Women worked in horendous conditions and accidents were far too frequent in factories. A TNT plant killed 73 people and also leading to the destruction of nearby homes. Furthermore the collective effort was extraordinary , the workers of one factory in Gloucestershire within the four years filled over 17 million shells(BBC world war 1).Opportunities in civil service increased by 1,751 %.

There were plenty of men in the armies, and the women often took over factory and other traditionally male jobs while the men were away fighting. Women did many things in the war, including working as nurses and even flying planes (Wilson, 1996). Since so many countries were involved in the war, some of the countries had technology different from others, and were willing to share at the time to see the enemy stopped. The enemy was, of course, dependent on whose side one was