Essay on The Role of Women in Australia in 1914- 1918

During the World War II era, the outlook on the role of women in Australian society revolutionised. As a majority of men were at war, Australian women were encouraged to rise above and beyond their stereotypical ‘housewife’ status. They were required to take on the tasks that were once considered predominantly male roles, and also allowed the opportunity to join the armed services as well as enlist in the Women’s Land Army. Many women who doubted their abilities played their part by entering voluntary work. Women had the privilege of contributing in Australian society in many ways that they had never been able before. Thus, it is manifest that the role of women in Australian society had drastically changed.

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.

During World War I, the Australian home front was impacted by a long and varying list of occurrences during the period of time between the years of 1914 to 1918. The home front was influenced politically through the arguments over the conscription vote and as Australia became divided between the different war beliefs. It was also influenced by social change, as the use of censorship drastically altered the Australians’ views of war and women began to pick up odd jobs in order to assist the soldiers as very few of them were allowed to directly help as nurses in Gallipoli. There were also extreme economic alterations as the wages in Australia were pushed down and prices were pushed up, and the country discarded major trade partners who had become their enemy.

Australian society had changed a lot because of the women’s movement. Throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s and the start of the ‘90s a lot of women were put into male jobs. These jobs were in the areas of education, law, health work, and welfare. This greatly affected the imbalance between both men and women in power and opportunity. Women gradually started to gain access to areas of power that previously been off limits. Some women attempted to use their new found power for the benefit of women in

Prior to WWI, women were considered as unemployable and only worthy for teaching and small shop keeping jobs. Unlike other countries like Germany and Britain during the war that allowed women to take on the ‘male’ roles in society, the Australian government refused to let women take up such roles. Instead women started organisations such as The Australian Comfort Fund (ACF) who sent ‘comfort boxes’ to the boys on the front line. These contained cakes, cigarettes and other luxury items . The

Australia in the early 1900s has developed a reputation as a ‘working man’s paradise’ for its greater opportunity to success and an egalitarian society. However not all workers proved this to be true. In order to determine this statement, Issues to be discussed include firstly the hours of work for different genders, secondly the working conditions and finally the dispute for the right to fair treatment to women and Aboriginal natives throughout the 19th century.

To travel from Britain to Australia around the period from 1945 to 1970s costed people from

The experiences of Australian women in both World War 1 and World War 2 were similar but also different. WWI was fought from 1914 to 1918, and WW2 was fought from 1939 to 1945. These were the biggest military conflicts in the history of man. The main areas of change in Australian women around these times were employment, roles and positions in the war, and the attitudes towards women at these times. In WW1, the main occupation for Australian women was nursing. In World War 2, however, women were given the opportunity to do ‘a man’s job’ for the first time.

World War I outbroke in August 1914 when countries were thirsty for power and dominance. The war ignited with tensions between Serbia and Austria. Australia being an ally of Serbia and Britain had to take part in the war. Everyone was full of eagerness and enlisted to fight in Australia’s first war as an independent country. The attitude of Australians to fight in the war during 1914 has changed from being excited, proud and ignorant to being more aware of the consequences and feeling scared.

“The effects of the war were also felt at home. Families and communities grieved fro the loss of so many men, and women increasingly assumed the physical and financial burden of farming for families.” (Australia War Memorial, n.d.) As a result of the war, there was a sharp decrease in men within the workforce, women being the only option left that employers could choose from. Women also went to work to provide for the family.

Over one million Australians were involved in World War 2. The war effort came from women and men alike, serving interstate and internationally. At the end of this war, there were 40,000 dead and more than 30,000 taken as prisoners of war. This was the first time in history that Australia's mainland had come under direct attack. The war was a catastrophic global conflict which did have a significant impact on Australians. World War 2 started in 1939, with the German invasion of Poland, and ended in 1945, by Japan being bombed by the USA. The two main sides in the fight were the Axis powers which were the countries Germany, Italy and Japan and the Allies which featured USA, France, Britain and consequently Australia. The role of women,

During the years of 1914-1918, many women’s lives and experiences dramatically changed in Britain due to the impacts of war. The introduction of conscription in 1916, gave women the necessity for total war and DORA (defence of realm act) for the movement of women in the workforce. Within the depiction of Source D, it is evident that many women, even though within the ‘workforce’ had to work long hours dealing with heavy machinery. Other roles such as banking, teaching and medicine were also occupations that were on offer to women whim were not part of the factory working as the job roles were categorised as ‘non-combat’ duties. Such duties use to be performed by men (which is evident from source E). The employment if women went from 3 million

Essay question- “The part played by women in the war effort, 1914-1918, was crucial to women achieving the vote in 1918” – How valid is this view?

Australian families have experienced many significant changes over the past 6 decades. For women these changes consequently resulted in equality of opportunities, and conditions in the labour force. Along with the willingness of most men to become voluntarily involved in core household work, as well as taking on a greater role with respect to childcare. This essay will discuss two significant changes in gender roles, and will examine some of the positive and negative impacts it had on Australian society over the past six decades. On the one hand, Australian federal and state governments passed several new laws and legislations which resulted in an increased participation by women in the labour force. These legislative changes provide many more

Firstly, it is important to consider the type of economical framework Australia works under and how this may manipulate their view of women. American