The Changing Roles Of Women During The Vietnam War

The roles of women and men in the Vietnam War varied greatly due the stereotypical characterizations of society. While women were not included in the draft, protected from its brutality and tragedies, men were forced from their homes, enlisted in the army. In O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, women are portrayed as apathetic towards Vietnam soldiers. They are the homebound sex, too fragile and moral to be aware of the world outside their own, and unable to empathize with the emotional baggage that the soldiers carry. Through The Things They Carried, O’Brien characterizes women as ignorant and thus, insensitive towards the men’s pain in war.

On September 3rd 1939 World War II started in Europe. During World War II, more than 16 million American men served in the military. While this large portion of the population was overseas fighting for the United States, women had to do many of the jobs in America normally held by men. Women were considered vital assets to the war effort, and the American government made sure to use their skills and labor in many different areas to win the war. Women contributed to the successful war effort by working society, documenting the war effort, and supporting the soldiers.

This was a very important time period for women because they were finally starting to seem like more than just housewives. Many of them worked full time along with providing for their families. Despite the struggles, the war became a way to bring the nation together to fight for one common goal.

Research Question: How did the Vietnam War affect women and what was their role in the war effort or protests?

As men went off to war, women had to find ways to provide for their families until the return of their men. Women took over farm tasks, filled jobs at schools and offices, worked in factories, and even became nurses to make wages. Women even became spies and scouts to aid in the war effort. This new found independence would eventually push women to question their submissive roles and begin fighting for their equal rights. Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, put it perfectly: “At the war’s end, woman was at least fifty years in advance of the normal position which continued peace would have assigned her.”

This was the start of major social change. Before the war, women had been content to stay at home to bring up the family and do domestic work. It was considered unbecoming for a woman to work. During the war it was considered unpatriotic not to.

Apart from the obvious fact that most families lost a member in the fighting it changed ordinary peoples lives in a number of ways. Because so many men were taken out of the workplace to fight, many of the jobs previously done by men had to be done by women so it propelled the notion of working women into a whole new era. It showed, in many cases, that women were capable of doing jobs previously considered to be purely for men. In a way it changed peoples attitudes to women in the workplace which altered the old vision of the woman's place in society. Men retuning from the war obviously took up some of their old jobs again but women had gained a new perspective and from then on felt more capable of asserting their rights, though it took some time after this for men to alter their perspective likewise. Many families had to change the way the family was structured due to the loss of the traditional 'breadwinners'. Children were being brought up without fathers on a massive scale and the impact on society was enormous. Many were brought up in poverty and lesser circumstances than would have been the case without the loss of the men. People found themselves in circumstances which led them to voice their grievances more openly than they would have dared to have done previously, especially men returning from the battle front. There was a swell of disatisfaction with the social order which had led them into war and people became more resolved

Women managed to organize committees to gather and make food, socks, and other sources of comforts as well as write letters to the men fighting overseas. Women even got involved with volunteer organizations including the Red Cross, helping to raise money for the war effort in the process.

Another way woman had positively influenced the war was through the assisting in the operation of stores and businesses. Due to all the men enlisted in the war the government came across a job shortage there were not enough men to work in stores. women jumped at the chance to help, and support their family's while they were at it. Although woman could not have jobs that required high responsibility woman could work in jobs such as secretarial positions, as clerks, cleaners, ect. This was a major stepping stone to woman proving their equality with men in society and the workplace.

The role of race and gender in the United States have been a constant social and cultural struggle, but for male and female service members in the U.S. Armed Forces during the Vietnam War of author Heather Marie Stur’s book "Beyond Combat: Women and Gender in the Vietnam War Era" when she focused more on the Cold War era policies. While her emphasis is primarily on Americans in Vietnam, the framing chapter on Madame Nhu as Orientalist dragon lady. Similarly, she considers the image of the "girl next door" in need of protection in relation to the actual positions of donut dollies nurses and WACs in

The women had an incredibly important part in the war. I believe they had one of the hardest jobs in the war.They had to send off their husbands and some of their kids to war. Knowing that they may not ever see them again. Not to mention, that they had to do all the things their husbands could no longer do. Thing like farming, laboring, and any other jobs, that their husband may have had.

worked in factories expanding industrial output, and helped raise money in the community. The women are what helped keep the country running. When women filled jobs that were traditionally men’s, this aided the country as a whole because while men fought in the war, women were able to keep the country moving. Women not only worked in factories and offices, but working in the community played an immense role in helping the soldiers fighting. Women raised money for the war, collected blood, rolled bandages, aided in civil defense, tended Victory Gardens, and hosted troops. Some women still worked at home centering their work around what the soldiers needed. They recycled aluminum foil and other materials that were scarce, they raised children as usual, and mourned for the soldier that had died. Women were assisting the troops with all that they could in order to make life easier for them.

Before the war, women did not have any of the new responsibilities that came with post war America. After the war, women still may have wanted to remain in the workforce,

World War 2 affected the United States of America in multiple different ways, such as socially, economically and politically to. The war caused a boost in immigration off all races and genders. The damage of the war caused workers to move to curtain area where work is available. This resulted in an overflow of children for schools, a shortage of homes for the females of the working men and woman. The war causes the role of a woman to change tremendously. Woman became lumberjacks, mechanics during the war. They went as far as to take jobs normally reserved for men and also there wages began to double overtime. There were even woman joining the navy, army and also nursing in the field for falling soldiers. Sometime after the war woman began to