Women's Role In Ww2 Essay

One of the most important roles that women played, were the increasing large amount of female soldiers fighting in the war. These roles gave women the right to work and serve in armed forces. The jobs that women took part in during this time period made a huge difference in the war, and in turn, WW2 helped expand women’s

Women had a huge role in the World War II that so many do not recognize. Women were involved in many different jobs that allowed them to step out of the ordinary norm as the “typical housewife”, and dive into fierce hardworking jobs that until then only a man could do. Women jumped into the factories and many different roles that contributed to World War II, because the need for more American workers was crucial.

During World War II, thousands of women in various nations were deeply involved in volunteer work alongside men. Before World War II, the women’s role was simply to be a wife to her husband, a mother to her children, and a caretaker to the house (Barrow). As World War II raged on, women made enormous sacrifices for their family, and also learnt new jobs and new skills. Women were needed to fill many “male jobs”, while men went off to fight in the war. Women served with distinction in The Soviet Union, Britain, Japan, United States, and Germany and were urged to join armed forces, work in factories, hospitals, and also farms to support the soldiers fighting the war. During this time, women took on the dual

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

Women had different perspectives during World War 2. Many served in different branches of armed forces. Some labored in war productions plants. Most women stayed at home and had other responsibilities to raise children, balance check books, and some labored in war-related office jobs, while the men went to war. In addition to factory work and other front jobs about 350,000 women joined the Armed services, serving at home and abroad. “Rosie the Riveter,” later became a popular propaganda for women. While women worked in a variety of positions closed to them the industry saw the greatest increase in female’s workers. More than 310,000 women worked in the U.S. aircraft industry in 1943,

During the Second World War, both married and unmarried women worked in wartime industries and factories to take the place of men who joined the service. Although women didn’t play a significant role on the battlefields in Europe compared to males, it would be logical to conclude that women played an integral role in the participation and victory in WWII both at home and abroad. Yet when one considers their contribution, it is hard to imagine how much more they could have done given the conservative views of gender role at that time. In the context of traditional gender roles and boundaries, women conceivably maximized their wartime efforts by working in a variety of jobs including industry, volunteering, and serving as support staff for

In the years after the Second World War, people created uncountable numbers of historiographical research on various topics related to the war, such as military tactics in battles, individual groups of men during their time in service, and other such subjects. Not much surprise exists then, that women’s actions in World War II eventually would also gain interest and publication for the public, though it did not gain an undivided focus until the advent of women’s and social history grew momentum. Women, despite being half of the world’s population, doubtlessly had acted during the war years, although limited by social gender expectations of the period. As time passes from 1945, more interest in the lives of women and their effect on the war

This is a significant body of work that focuses on the historical facts about how these women had the courage to step into these roles, trying to not be found out by others. They could not be themselves, but had to consume another identity in order to survive. Hall has examined the gender lens thoroughly, depicting these women as going above and beyond the call of war. He discusses that some women’s identities were discovered, but others died with secret. Hall’s purpose is clear, his intent is to separate fact from

Women served an important role in WWII. They not only took the challenge and stepped up to take the places of the men off fighting in the war to work in factories, but they also fought side by side with those risking their lives and fighting for their country. They were needed everywhere during the war. There were an unbelievable amount of job opportunities for women during the war and many supported the brave acts of voluntary enlistment. “‘A woman’s place is in the home’ was an old adage, but it still held true at the start of World War II. Even though millions of women worked, home and family we considered the focus of their lives” says Brenda Ralf Lewis. Without the help of those women who were brave enough to

The women in World War 2 (1935-1945) were given a much more active role than the women in World War 1. They were significantly beneficial to the success of the allied forces fighting not only in Australia but all over the world. Their contribution not only to the military but to the continued growth of the country was outstanding in so many ways. They had to quickly learn skills which traditionally were male dominated and this included jobs which involved heavy labour and long hours for very little or no pay whilst trying to maintain in many cases a stable family life. (Australia.gov, 2015) If not for these women’s contribution during the Second World War Australia could have very well have been in a different situation than it is currently.

Although the women could only serve as female components, they still had to learn how to adapt to the different tasks that were expected of them during the war. The women of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps were filled with positions in many different types of categories. Some jobs of the women were becoming clerks, drivers, mechanics, cooks, radio operators, weather observers, laboratory technicians, aircraft warning reporters, and weapon repairers. (Collins, 7) More than 150,000 women served in the army during World War II. (Permeswaran, 99). In addition to helping persevere democracy, these women overcame conflict, performed brilliantly, And laid the groundwork on which military women’s efforts and achievements still rest today (Permeswaran, 99). The reason women were expected to more higher standard jobs is because in the beginning of the war, the WAAC attracted women who pushed themselves to go past the minimum standard expected. Since these women were willing to go further than what was expected, it created a lot of positive outcomes which is what helped to win the war.

     “May 22, 1942, will surely go down on the record,” predicted the Christian Science Monitor. “It was the day that women joined up with the army...” It was obvious; the U.S. needed a larger military force. Thus women joined the army within organizations. From there came Oveta Culp Hobby, the director for the first American military organization of women. This organization was called the WAAC (Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps). Many people were impressed by the strength of the WAAC and it is said that within three months, the AAF was discussing the possibilities of obtaining more members of the WAAC (Weatherford, p.34).

In 1942 the Women’s Army Corps was introduced. These women worked in more than 200 non- combatant jobs stateside and also every part of the war. They served not only as common nurses but also “within the ranks of the United States Army.” There was also the Women’s Army Corps introduced in 1942. This group of 1,100 women was asked to join and fly military aircraft, due to the shortage of pilots. Their job was to fly from factories to military bases and also different take off points around the country. Even though during their enlistment the WASP were supposed to become part of the military, after a couple years the program was cancelled. The last group the, Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, was already established. After being absent for twenty-three years, they had to be reactivated because of WW2. While a large portion of these women did the job of secretarial and clerical they had other jobs they did. Thousands of WAVES performed duties in aviation, medical professions, communication, intelligence, science and technology. These military jobs and the other non-traditional jobs the women participated in made them almost like a ghost in their home front.

The early rush of volunteers and later the conscription of men led to a shortage of manpower on the home front. Women, already working in munitions factories were encouraged to take on jobs normally done by men.

Women were encouraged to join the war effort in any way, especially as compassionate nurses, but if they were to oppose the war or prevent their son, brother, or husband from joining, they were considered overprotective and needed to adjust their attitudes (Haight). However, women’s pacifistic groups maintained that their opposition was not unpatriotic but rather expressing moral duty to oppose an unjust war (Haight). The idyllic image of women maintaining the home while men fight to protect them did not quite ring true to many women who were forced to drastically change the way they lived (Haight). Today, the idea that women can possess both femininity and emotional fortitude is obvious, but such ideas were not common during the era, and women were often forced to choose how they wished to adapt and present themselves (Haight). The war propaganda also was used systematically to tell women the definition of “womanhood (Haight).” To quote directly from Haight, “However, those developing these propagandistic ideas had to overcome the hurdle of consolidating the conflicting nature of the nurturing woman and war, for the very definition of a “true” woman was at odds with the violence and aggression of war. They transformed a woman’s desire to be desired into a desire to be worthy of sacrifice and by extension worthy of the men in their lives