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Women's Roles After Ww2

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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.
Women before World War II had a set gender role; she was the wife and mother. Many jobs at that time were occupied by men. Some states even banned married women from having a job. Women who did work outside the house weren’t glorified and men did not care too much for them. Before the war the men were the sole provider. In result, many people who saw a women pick …show more content…

Women started to see themselves as more than a housewife. Some of the daughters started working as young as fourteen or fifteen years old. They were proud of their newly found skills with their hands. Over six-million women had taken over jobs dominated by men when the men left for war. Women were said to have better or more precise motor skills than men. This skill was a great asset to doing needle work for wiring bombs and filling metal casting with gunpowder. This is obviously a dangerous job and it did have accidents that cause over 200,000 women to become disabled and 37,000 to lose their lives. With the help of the women in the factories they made an estimated 300,000 aircrafts, 12,000 ships, 86,000 tanks, and millions of artillery and small weapons. In the 1940’s many women worked the railroads. This employed over 2 million people. The women who took over this job were critical in helping keep the flow of army material and troops. Women also took the jobs of transit workers for example: mail carriers and truck drivers. Women also created civil defense communities to help with emergencies. These women were trained on firefighting, driving ambulances and many other medical emergencies for possible aerial bombings. Many of the women who were apart of these civil defenses were volunteers. Many costal communities scanned for enemy aircrafts or ships in case …show more content…

There weren’t many women working outside the household. The ones who were weren’t accepted by men very often at all. Women’s place was in the home, taking care of the children, cooking, cleaning and servicing her husband. Once the war got into full affect many men were drafted off overseas to help with the war efforts. This caused a shortage in the home front. Many factories had a shortage of workers and military operates. This gave women the opportunity to become great patriots and support their war and the men risking their lives overseas. Women had to step it up by doing more physically demanding and dangerous work. These jobs could range from building massive ships and aircrafts to the smallest bullets and hand grenades. Towards the end of the war women wanted to keep their jobs and the newly found independence that came with it. Once the many men came back from overseas, the majority of women had to let go of their jobs and settle back into the home. Some women even found “pink collar” jobs as waitresses or secretaries just so they can continue to work. Even though these women still had to deal with lower wages and gender discrimination, the war couldn’t have been won without the help of the women from the allied forces. These women paved the way for future generations of females to see themselves as more than a domestic

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