Women's Roles In The 1940s

Gender defined roles are continuously adapting to the new societal norms of the era. There is a surplus of historical events that have reimagined the traditional expectations of a man or women.

From the 1900s until present day many opportunities and movements have opened up to women. Women continuously strived to have equality among men. Now that we have the equality, roles of women and men have changed. One thing that has struck me odd are how women actually choose to go to work than stay home with their children. I would love to say home with them and do a “woman’s job”, but now I can even say that because it could offend someone. Things have changed for the good and some for the bad.

Women during World War II became warriors. They overtook and played the men’s role in their household. Before their men went overseas, the norm was for them to get married at a young age. These women started volunteering in war-related organizations in order to support war efforts. When the men left to fight, their women became proficient at things they wouldn’t have dared to do before. The war made a lot of women stronger and opened lots of doors and opportunities. They would manage their finances, be excellent housekeepers, fix cars and do handyman work.

The entire American population made sure they were behind the war effort, and political and social leaders acknowledged that both women and men would have to change their opinions of gender roles. However, this opinion lasted only during a national emergency. Women were expected to contribute in a variety of ways. In order to identify women leaders the government immediately turned to Nation's academic institutions. Even though there was oppression of women while they held jobs, higher education for women was socially acceptable, but the opportunity to use education in the workplace was limited. During World War II and even after it, there were database and networks of academically qualified women whom the U.S. government recruited for

In the 1930 's, the roles of men and women varied greatly. From the workplace to the home, the expectancies were different. Their behaviors were night and day. The views of both genders were also very different.

Let’s take a look at the women’s of the 1920’s, the changes that took place in fashion and the roles of women in society. Women’s fashion will be compared from early days up until the 1930’s, with a brief comparison of the roles of women before and after the 1920’s. A discussion of the different avenues that opened up for women after 1920 and the impact that it has had on modern day women will also be covered within this paper. you need a stronger introduction

During the 1930s women is not treated equal with men and they are very different with each other. The amount of women actually getting jobs are less likely to men getting jobs. Fashion is also very different, women are in plain dresses while men are in blue denim jackets. Women during the Great Depression are actually depressed because they can not get jobs and their wages are half as as much as men. Men gets good jobs and amazing wages but at least both still got their fashion.

During the first World War I women were left at home to try and figure out how they were going to care for their families. Their husband, father, and brothers were sent off to war. Many companies around the United States were left with production needs and little to no employees to do the job. In a time period, where women are expected to be confident and independent, they had to also realize they had little to no power in society. They had societal rules that they must stay at home to cook, clean, and care for the children. With the men who were prominent in their lives coming and going from war. These factors caused the birth of a new era. This is the era where women were emerging. Women were changing by being more independent sexually and expressing their emotions through music, poetry, and movies.

The early 1900s were filled with many new social ideas and changes. New faces arose during this time, and many new ideas changed the shape of society. Among these were race relations, the role of women in society, and the ever-heated modernism versus fundamentalism debate.

The 1920s was a period of changes exactly as the Progressive Era. Everything was developing very fast. The economic boom caused a high living standard, therefore, people earned more money and wanted to live a modern life, in view of the fact that, they could afford it, especially in the cities which offered more stores, job opportunities, and saloons and bars for entertainment. People wanted to have fun after World War I, take a rest and just hang out together, for that reason it caused a moral decline, the enormous consumption of alcohol caused a lot of crime and women had a new way of living. The two biggest changes were the rights for women and prohibition.

The 1920s had a big impact on American life all around; however, one of the biggest changes during this time period was in the roles of women. During this time period, women started dressing different, leaving the house, getting jobs, and gaining rights. On top of all of that, they had a bigger role in education, they began taking parts in politics, and divorce became more of a common thing. This may not seem like a big deal to people today, but this was very important at the time. Prior, women had next to no rights. They lived to wait on and please their husbands. Women rarely even left the house. This time period could be said to have paved the way for modern day feminism and women’s roles. This was the time period when they began to be free and stop worrying about how society thought they should live. However, the question still remains: Did the changing roles of women in the 1920s really have a significant effect on women’s roles today? In the next few pages, one will be given examples of women’s role before, during, and after the 1920s. In each paragraph, the roles, rights, impacts, and more that women had at these times will be explained. To conclude, a comparison on how women were thought to act in these different time periods will be made in order to come up with an answer for the question stated above.

Before the war women had to fit into a stereotype of “the perfect family” (“A Change in”). Prior to 1941 only 30% of women worked for 10 years and only 50% worked for 5 years (Discovery Education). Women were encouraged not to work, because it broke “the perfect family” stereotype (“The Women of”) (“A Change in”). Even husbands did not want their

A woman of 1920 would be surprised to know that she would be remembered as a "new woman." Significant changes for women took place in politics, at home, in workplace, and in education.

After getting an education as well as knowing there worth in society women knew there were more than just a wife and mother. During WWII women demonstrated their power to think in a world without men as they were off fighting the war. Women began to understand that they had more to offer the world other than housekeeping and raising children. In addition, many women wanted to continue working after the war as they had held jobs with responsibilities as well as earning wages. Furthermore, women were the ones making financial decisions as well as working in positions with higher responsibilities. Many women as well as minorities were simply casted a side to make room for the returning solders. This created a silent discontent among women

By 1943, housewife workers outnumbered single workers for the first time in history.Throughout the war women went to work in shipyards, aircraft plants and other assembly lines. They also loaded shells, operated cranes, painted ships. Many of them became welders, bus drivers, train conductors, mechanics, bellhops, nurses and day-care providers. Women comprised a third of the workers in aircraft plants and about 10 percent of the workers at the shipyards and steel mills were women. Although most war work was in factories, many women found work elsewhere. Many became secretaries and clerks in Washington D.C. and more than 200,000 women entered the special branches of the military. Such branches include Women’s Army Corp (WAC), Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES), and Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS). These military positions allowed women to take over tasks for soldiers so they could be free to go to combat. Although women participated in jobs extremely similar to men, they were not treated equally. For the long hour’s women put in, their salaries averaged only 60 percent of men’s. However, the greatest struggle for American women throughout the war was not simply the issue of money.