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Women participating in society world war i
Women participating in society world war i
Women participating in society world war i
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In this semester, we have read several books arguing that wars brought women the opportunity to enter the presumed men’s spaces such as entering military industry to replace the drafted male soldiers. However, was the gain permanent? From Home/Front edited by Hagemann and Schüler-Springorum, we learned that the postwar German authorities desperately attempted to restore the status quo ante in gender relations. Ruth Milkman’s social history Gender at Work presented a similar scenario faced by American female workers in their workplace during and after the WWII. In order to draw a comprehensive picture of the managerial modes, employment patterns, and labor movements in American industry in the 1930s and 1940s, Milkman adopts a comparative approach to probing the female employees’ experience in automobile and electrical manufacturing factories. Based on documents of the Department of Labor, papers of labor unions, and newspaper articles, Gender at Work examines the distinctive pattern of sex segregation in the two branches of industry in the prewar, wartime, and postwar U.S. She analyzes how the gender map in these two fields were drawn in history, how the great depression and the wartime labor shortage shaped the dynamic interaction between female employees, the managers, and their male …show more content…
In both automobile and electrical manufacturing industries, women attempted to ally with male workers to promote sex equality, but failed. In automobile industry, men colluded with their managers to violate women’s seniority rights to defend their monopoly over the workplaces. In contrast, the male electrical manufacturing workers found that the elimination of gender gap in wages can serve their own interest too as it reduced the likelihood of being substituted by women workers, but the labor union in this industry was too ineffective to confront the managers
Beginning with the aggressive recruiting methods utilized to bring them in, and ending with the return of men from the war -- especially veterans -, women became extremely active in the working force during World War II. This was evident at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where four thousand and six hundred women were employed. Even though they remained employed for up to six months after the war, eventually men did return to their positions, leaving only women veterans still qualified to hold a position there. However, the focus of a speech on this matter by Dr. Sparr was the activity that occurred during these women's employment.
In order to understand how the world wars had such a significant change in how women were viewed in the workplace, we must first understand their experience in the workplace before the wars even started. Contrary to popular belief, women did in fact play a role in the workforce before World War I. In the early 1900s, the number of women in the workforce greatly increased. During this time, it is estimated that approximately one in five workers were women. This statistic is mainly due to industrialization, a period of significant economic expansion that took place from the 1870s to 1900 due to the process of mechanization. Mechanization is the use of machines to complete tasks formerly done by hand. As a result of both mec...
In 1943, most women worked as teachers, nurses, or done some sort of domestic labor. Their opportunities were nowhere near as vast as the men’s. This caused the women to feel left out or unequal. Women fought for more equal opportunities as well as equal treatment. This along with their sense of patriotism is what led them to work in these factories. They wanted to be viewed as equal counterparts and have the same opportunities as men during this time. Not as many opportunities were open to the women so they jumped at the chance to widen them when the idea of working in the factories came up. This also paired with their sense of patriotism, making their determination to work stronger. The women knew the men were off fighting for their freedom so this would give them a chance to contribute to the cause as well as help war production. This challenged the views of the workplace as well as the beliefs of where women belonged in the workplace. Numerous men...
During the time of 1940-1945 a big whole opened up in the industrial labor force because of the men enlisting. World War II was a hard time for the United States and knowing that it would be hard on their work force, they realized they needed the woman to do their part and help in any way they can. Whether it is in the armed forces or at home the women showed they could help out. In the United States armed forces about 350,000 women served at home and abroad. The woman’s work force in the United States increased from 27 percent to nearly 37percent, and by 1945 nearly one out of every four married woman worked outside the home. This paper will show the way the United States got the woman into these positions was through propaganda from
“There was much more to women’s work during World War Two than make, do, and mend. Women built tanks, worked with rescue teams, and operated behind enemy lines” (Carol Harris). Have you ever thought that women could have such an important role during a war? In 1939 to 1945 for many women, World War II brought not only sacrifices, but also a new style of life including more jobs, opportunities and the development of new skills. They were considered as America’s “secret weapon” by the government. Women allowed getting over every challenge that was imposed by a devastating war. It is necessary to recognize that women during this period brought a legacy that produced major changes in social norms and work in America.
Before WWII, women knew their place. Carol Harris of BBC News says, “In the 1930s, social roles were clearly defined. A woman's place was in the home, a man's place was out at work. With the onset of war, everything changed”(8). While there were women in the workplace before WWII, their options were limited. With the absence of a large percentage of the young men, these options opened considerably. Despite the expansion of opportunities for women, women were still seen as disobeying social norms by working in factories or joining the Armed Forces.
Many factors affected the changes in women’s employment. The change that occurred went through three major phases: the prewar period in the early 1940s, the war years from 1942-1944, and the post war years from around 1945-1949. The labor shortage that occurred as men entered the military propelled a large increase in women’s entrance into employment during the war. Men's return to the civilian workforce at the end of the war caused the sudden drop to prewar levels. The cause of the sudden decline during post war years of women in the paid workforce is unclear. Many questions are left unanswered: What brought women into the war industry, ...
Wartel?s Senior Comps, Hired and Fired: The Effects of World War II on Women?s Employment in the United States Compared to Mt. Vernon, Ohio, 1938-1948. no date URL http://www2.kenyon.edu/people/wartelse/essay.html accessed 16 March 1999.
With the advent of the 1920s and the signing of the Nineteenth Amendment came a rapid movement toward women’s rights. It sped up with the beginning of World War II where six million women went to work in military factories, producing ammunition and other military goods for the sixteen million troops fighting abroad. The end of the war brought the realization that American women could work just as hard and efficiently as American men. Thus the idea of feminism was born. From here, the momentum continued before taking a hit with the loss of the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1980s. This only caused women to fight harder and soon a new generation of independent women arose in the early 1990s. Nowadays, self-sufficient women can be found everywhere as CEOs in companies like PepsiCo and Kraft Foods or as associate justices on the Supreme Court. However, all the strides taken thus far had its origins not in businesses or the government but in the military. Since Joan of Arc first picked up a sword to fight for the French, women have disguised themselves as men in order to fight for their country and for their own personal independence. For example, during the Civil War (1860-1865), nearly three hundred women fought bravely in support of both the Northern and Southern cause (Weiser). Yet despite their bravery, three hundred seems trivial next to the approximately three million male soldiers that fought next to them (Weiser). The majority of contributions came from the women who stayed within the societal boundaries of the time. Unfortunately, most accounts of women in the Civil War focus on the hidden soldiers and not the supporting housewives. With such a small amount of women defying the norm, one has to wonder to what extent did women ...
INTRO: The role of women transformed drastically between the First World War and after the Second World War (1914-1945). Women weren’t required to perform the ‘traditional’ roles anymore. All over the world women’s roles were changing even though many challenges were in their way. Women fought for equality, the trust of the opposite sex in the workforce and basically any other basic human rights, such as voting. Women went through many obstacles to be where they stand today and that should never be taken as granted. Even though a total equality between men and women might not be in existence, women have come really far from where they started.
During the Second World War, everything suddenly changed. WW2 “opened up tremendous opportunities for women” (Foley 1). Many men left for war with the armed services and many jobs previously occupied by men became open and “women power. was in demand” (Bryant 4). Many women saw this as “a new opportunity” (Kiernan 7) to “go and do and be whoever” (Kiernan 31) they wanted.
When American officially entered World War II in 1941 changes occurred for many people. The draft was enacted forcing men to do their duty and fight for their country. Women were asked to hold down the home front in many ways, ranging from rationing, volunteering, saving bacon grease and making the most of their commodities they currently had. There was also a hard push for women to take war production jobs outside the home. Before the depression, just a few years before the war, it was not uncommon for a woman to work for wages, but as the depression set in, married women were at risk of losing their jobs. Numerous women were fired or asked to resign in order to make room for a man who had lost his job. Many citizens felt it was unfair for a family to have two wage earners when some families had none. (Kessler-Harris) Previously, the average workforce of women was young and single. However, when the war started, couples were married at a younger age, putting the typical worker in short supply. This led to a rapid increase in older married women going to work outside the home. “During the depression, 80 percent of Americans objected to wives working outside the home, by 1942, only 13 percent still objected.” (May) By the end of the war, 25 percent of married women were employed. (May) Although women had worked outside the home prior to World War II, their entrance into the war production labor force created change in the typical gender roles and provided an exciting and yet difficult time for many women who were gaining their independence.
Perhaps my expectations were poorly formed, but I found the chapter which dealt with the aftermath of World War II, “War and Peace: Fanning the Home Fires,” to be somewhat uneven. May quite thoroughly lays out the occupational and economic changes for women workers both during and after the war. Her insight on the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACS) and the Women Appointed for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) is equally pertinent to a discussion of the contribution women made to the war effort. In fact, this treatment in particular could have been expanded to examine some of the very particular non-traditional roles women performed in military service at the time - for example, women serving as test pilots - which truly stretched the boundaries
During the Industrial Era, new factory jobs opened up. Although this new opening of industrial jobs seemed like the perfect opportunity for women to work, the government placed laws that restricted womens’ abilities to find jobs. In 1923 the Supreme Court declared that women should be protected under the same law as men. Although this was the precedent set by the Supreme Court, the corrupt business owners and economic system did not provide women with equal opportunities. (Paul “Women’s Party and Minimum Wage”)
It can be concluded that women are treated in terms of stereotyped impressions of being the lowest class and greater evidence can be found that there are large disparities between the women and the men 's class. It can be seen that women are more likely to play casual roles as they are most likely to take seasonal and part time work so that they can work according to their needs. They are hampered from progressing upward into the organizations as they face problems like lack of health insurance, sexual harassments, lower wage rates, gender biases and attitudes of negative behavior. However, this wouldn’t have hampered the participation of the women in the work force and they continue to increase their efforts which is highly evident in the occupational and job ratios of females in the industry.