Essay about The Impact of the Second World War on the Position of Women

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.

Women in World War II started replacing men in traditional roles, which proved to society that women were capable of work reserved for men. Due to labour shortages and the need for men to fight overseas, the government was forced to allow women to take a more active role. Women had a broad range of duties and responsibilities, most women were trained in many of the home-front tasks, subsequently, that more service men could be freed to join the overseas forces, this created new employment opportunities for women (Carrodus et al, 2012, p. 113). Tens of thousands of women joined the Women 's Air Force, Naval and Army Services during World War II. (Big Black Dog Communications Pty Ltd, et al, 2009). As seen Appendix 2, women in the services were significant as they were beginning to perform all types of work, from intelligence officers to drivers, typists and cooks, to wireless telegraphists and aircraft ground staff. To go from being dependent on

American women during World War 2 played an extremely large and important role when it came to the United States and their victory over our enemies in the war. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. finally entered the war. Before this event, only a handful of women had actually been in the American workforce. But World War 2 left an excess of these workforce positions open when their brothers, fathers, sons, and husbands left to fight. Because of this shortage, the U.S. government used propaganda, most notably Rosie the Riveter, and spread their different adds throughout different types of media. All the different propaganda was meant to encourage the women left at home to join the war effort. Their way of doing this involved them filling

America’s involvement in World War II created significant opportunities for American women on the home front. At the same time, it stirred conflict in the gender roles of Women during wartime. One of the main issues that dominated women’s lives during the war was balancing the role at home, with the new pressures placed on them due to the war economy. In most cases, the strides made regarding women’s rights during World War II were misleading, as policy makers used the female workforce for short-term assistance only. American Women faced varying experiences of life during World War II due to factors such as ethnicity and class largely affected the social implications of war. Nevertheless, the advances made by women during this time frame began a movement that would soon give empowerment to women throughout the country, inspiring independence and personal growth through the ways of unions, employment, and a change in traditional gender roles.

During World War II, the roles of women have forever been changed. Young men and women decided to marry just before their sweethearts went overseas to fight for their country. As the men fought abroad, we began to see women on the Home Front encouraged to be more independent and finding jobs of their own. These females in the United States stepped up to the plate and began working jobs that many men had before. Women stepped up and began working in factories, participating in organizations in regards to the war, all while still running things smoothly at home. While the men were away for battle, women became proficient cooks and housekeepers, managed the finances, learned to fix the car, worked in a defense plant, and wrote letters to their soldier husbands.

The American women that were involved in World War II held positions in which had never been held before. The global conflict caused the United States to urgently call upon the upbringing of women’s roles in the industries. The American women’s roles in the Second Great War were much more extensive than in the First; women now began to work in factories, ammunition plants, and on farms. Another rather important job that women held in the war was that they enlisted into the military as nurses that would serve on the front lines of war.

Claim: World War II produced important changes in American life some trivial and others profound.

World War II is when the women first started working for the pilots service. The woman wasn’t allowed to work for any service like that before. But when a special lady such as Eleanor Roosevelt convinced them to work for the service that all changed. They later figured out that there was a big help. 350,000 women was working for the service in the beginning of december. They also had their own branch. These women were very hardworking and important with the work they did. There service for the pilots was a success.

The “Roaring Twenties” was a very significant and innovative time for woman. Naturally woman are dehumanized and looked upon as less superior to men however, this misogynistic mindset was far more evident in the 1910’s. Woman saw the oppression they were facing and saw the need to stand up for the rights of woman. Woman wanted empowerment and fundamental human rights. Nonetheless woman were not going to achieve equal rights unless they created organizations and movements. In the 1920’s the number of organizations for woman sky rocketed to over sixty worldwide. The popularity of organizations for woman gave leadership roles to woman. This also made people more aware of the intelligence and power of woman (Bondy, 15). One organization that left an enormous and lasting impact on the perception of woman was the “Famous Five”. The “Famous Five” was a group of woman that were dedicated to give woman political roles. The suffrage movement initially gave woman a right to vote but they were still not permitted to work in office.

Before 1939, women were looked at as weak, incompetent and incapable of doing a man’s job. However, when World War II broke out, women were called to maintain the jobs that the men once occupied and t became evident that America’s best chance for success in World War II would have to include the efforts of American females. Women played a key role during World War II in the U.S. More than six million women took wartime jobs in factories, three million volunteered with the Red Cross, and over 200,000 served in the military. Through these jobs women were able to show society that they were capable of doing bigger and better things. Women also realized that they enjoyed this taste of freedom and wanted to continue this lifestyle even after

When WWII started, all of the men went off to fight, and left the women with the children, like they normally did. This time though, something had changed. So many men went off to fight, women had to go to work. They worked at factories, producing war materials, like bombs and uniforms. Some women took a step even further, and they went on to change the world.

During the time of World War II, minorities were needed to step up during this time of conflict. One minority that had a direct impact within America during the war was the women. Before the war, women were seen within American society as housewives, who’s purpose was to tend to both the house and the family. While women took care of the house and family, the men who could find work, worked in industries which helped America function. Come World War II, the men were sent to fight overseas, resulting in an empty workforce. To prevent both the economy and the war effort from collapsing, women had to step up and take the jobs previously done by men. The actions of the women helped supply the war effort, and helped boost the economy. Post World

World war one was a total war meaning that the entire nations had to be involved including the women. Everyone had a job during war as being a nurse aroud soldiers or helping out to sustain the nation. A major group that contributed to the war were the women. “Women who stepped up were measured as citizens of the nation, not as women... this was people’s war, and everyone was in it.” (Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby).

War 2 was the most catastrophic war in the history of the world. Nearly 70 million people were killed from soldiers to innocent bystanders. World War 2 did not only effect the people in the war, but a vast majority of Americans remained on the home-front and attempted to live a relatively normal life. But normality is easier said then done, even though the war did have its benefits it also had many downfalls and detriments.

In the 1920s women became more independent and started to slowly gain rights (“Women of the Century”). Women’s suffrage was finally granted in 1920, which was a huge step towards equality for men and women. For the first time, women were able to vote on issues that mattered to them, which was extremely important in order to gain more rights. In 1923, the Equal Rights Amendment was first introduced, although it would not be passed in Congress until almost fifty years later. Despite these steps of progress, the Great Depression caused some setbacks. Due to the large numbers of unemployment, women were discouraged from “taking jobs” away from men (“Women of the Century). Some states even went so far as to pass laws prohibiting the hiring of women. World War II began quickly after this which greatly increased the number of women in the work force.