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Womens role in WWII
History of gender equality in the world
Womens role in WWII
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Working Women During World War II Women needed during World War II During the six years of World War II more and more women were joining into the public workforce. “Rosie The Riveter” became a main campaign in order to persuade women to work. In movies, newspapers, posters, photographs, articles, and even a Norman Rockwell-Painted Saturday Evening Post cover, the Rosie the Riveter campaign stressed the patriotic need for women to enter the workforce. Which they did in massive numbers. Though women were crucial to the war effort, their pay continued to lag far behind their male counterparts. Female workers rarely earned more than 50 percent of male wages. With twelve million men fighting overseas, women were inserted into the workforce of …show more content…
Most people have gained more respect for women. Which is good because now women can actually work and help to provide food for their families. Though women were happier now Hitler mocked Americans for putting their women to work. The role of German women, he said, was to be good wives and mothers and to have more babies for the Third Reich” (History.com Staff). With this being said women were angered by this racism that Hitler was implying by saying this. “First, I hope that if they have done well and shown staying power and ability, they suffer no more in the period of readjustment than do men. They should not be penalized or discriminated against as women” (Platt 3). Many women joined together and started a rally to try to gain their rights to continue to …show more content…
Women became the main workforce while almost all the men went off to fight in World War II. As men began shipping off to battle, they left their wives, sisters, and mothers behind. They also left behind millions of jobs, the ones they vacated and the new ones needed to help with the war. As a result, hundreds of thousands of women entered the workforce. In factories, women built weapons, planes, and tanks to help the boys overseas. They took control of stores and farms, and organized fundraisers to keep spirits high. Rosie the Homemaker became known as Rosie the Riveter, a symbol of the evolving role of women during this era. The economic boom created by the wartime industry pulled the nation out of the Great Depression, paving the way for postwar prosperity. And the dedicated effort of working Rosies’ across the country propelled the nation toward victory. Women helped keep our country together during the war. Our lives, our country, our entire world would be extremely different if women were not encouraged to enter the
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.
World War Two was the period where women came out of their shells and was finally recognized of what they’re capable of doing. Unlike World War One, men weren’t the only ones who were shined upon. Women played many significant roles in the war which contributed to the allied victory in World War Two. They contributed to the war in many different ways; some found themselves in the heat of the battle, and or at the home front either in the industries or at homes to help with the war effort as a woman.
For the first time women were working in the industries of America. As husbands and fathers, sons and brothers shipped out to fight in Europe and the Pacific, millions of women marched into factories, offices, and military bases to work in paying jobs and in roles reserved for men in peacetime. Women were making a living that was not comparable to anything they had seen before. They were dependent on themselves; for once they could support the household. Most of the work in industry was related to the war, such as radios for airplanes and shells for guns. Peggy Terry, a young woman who worked at a shell-loading plant in Kentucky, tells of the money that was to be made from industrial work (108). “We made a fabulous sum of thirty-two dollars a week. To us that was an absolute miracle. Before that, we made nothing (108)." Sarah Killingsworth worked in a defense plant. " All I wanted to do was get in the factory, because they were payin more than what I'd been makin. Which was forty dollars a week, which was pretty good considering I'd been makin about twenty dollars a week. When I left Tennessee I was only makin two-fifty a week, so that was quite a jump (114)." Terry had never been able to provide for herself as she was able to during the war. " Now we'd have money to buy shoes and a dress and pay rent and get some food on the table. We were just happy to have work (108).” These women exemplify the turn around from the peacetime to wartime atmosphere on the home front. The depression had repressed them to poverty like living conditions. The war had enabled them to have what would be luxury as compared to life before.
Rosie the Riveter is a cultural icon of the United States whom represented the women who worked in factories during World War II, many of whom produced military equipment and war supplies. These women sometimes took entirely new jobs replacing the male workers who were in the military. The symbol of feminism and women's economic power was often amplified through Rosie the Riveter. "Rosie the Riveter" was a popular phrase first used in 1942 in a song of the same name written by Redd Evans. Auto factories were converted to build airplanes, shipyards were expanded, and new factories were built, and all these facilities needed workers. While the men were busy fighting in war, women were dominant in assistance. Companies took the idea of hiring women seriously. Eventually, women were needed because companies were signing large, lucrative contracts with the government just as all the men were leaving for the service. The various elements or figures of Rosie was based on a group of women, most of whom were named Rose. Many of these women named "Rose" varied in class, ethnicity, geography, and background diversity. One specially, who's had the biggest impact of all Rosie's was Rose Will Monroe. Rose Will Monroe, the most influential "Rosie" at the time, represented women during World War II by working most of her time in a Michigan factory.
During the war, women played a vital role in the workforce because all of the men had to go fight overseas and left their jobs. This forced women to work in factories and volunteer for war time measures.
World War II was the largest and most violent armed conflict in the history of mankind.
When all the men were across the ocean fighting a war for world peace, the home front soon found itself in a shortage for workers. Before the war, women mostly depended on men for financial support. But with so many gone to battle, women had to go to work to support themselves. With patriotic spirit, women one by one stepped up to do a man's work with little pay, respect or recognition. Labor shortages provided a variety of jobs for women, who became street car conductors, railroad workers, and shipbuilders. Some women took over the farms, monitoring the crops and harvesting and taking care of livestock. Women, who had young children with nobody to help them, did what they could do to help too. They made such things for the soldiers overseas, such as flannel shirts, socks and scarves.
The 1940s provided a drastic change in women’s employment rates and society’s view of women. With the end of the Depression and the United States’ entrance into World War II, the number of jobs available to women significantly increased. As men were being drafted into military service, the United States needed more workers to fill the jobs left vacant by men going to war. Women entered the workforce during World War II due to the economic need of the country. The use of Patriotic rhetoric in government propaganda initiated and encouraged women to change their role in society.
The idea of a woman's roll in society has been ever changing. In Pat Kaufman's article "Rosie the Riveter Remembers" gives insight to the role women played in society during World War II and the diversity they faced. For years women have been suppressed by the government, for instance during the Great Depression when they were told not to take available jobs away from men. Ironically, it would be women who were needed to help to country survive in World War II. A campaign was launched with the purpose of encouraging women to join the work force and thus Rosie the Riveter was born. Throughout the article, Kaufman focuses on four different women and their experiences joining the war effort. When America needed help the most, women stepped
World War II was one of the maneuvers that capitalism has miraculously come up with in its history to escape great crisis—in this case, the economic crisis of the depression years [1929-1939], which followed the political tumult of World War I and the Russian revolution. During World War II, the defense industry expanded and Canadian men mobilized for military service. Many women found jobs previously unavailable to them in aircraft plants, shipyards, manufacturing companies, and the chemical, rubber, and metals factories producing war materials. These jobs paid higher salaries than those traditionally categorized as “women’s work,” such as teaching, domestic service, clerical work, nursing, and library science. When the government’s authorities
The article was published on February 6, 1943 in the midst of World War II. Women had become an asset to the war effort and were then considered "At Home Soldiers" or "Riveters". They worked in the factories constructing submarines for the Navy, planes for the Air Force, and became medics.
When the war began men had to leave their families and jobs behind. World War I was a complete war because all of the world’s assets had to be used and the entire nation’s population was involved. Anyone that had the ability to work had to work. The women had to take up jobs and went through a lot changes in order to support their families during the war. World War I gave women with the chance to have a significant part in the victory of the war which had an impact them and changed the lives of all women forever.
World War one was the first war in which women were presented with a vast range of new jobs. As the men left their old jobs to fill the need for soldiers, women became vital to the society. Their involvement in the war effort did much to change perceptions of the role of women. “As a result the number of women employed increased from 3,224,600 in July, 1914 to 4,814,600 in
Women working during war time is nothing new, in the Civil war women had to control the plantations while the men fought. During World War One a similar problem arose. Should women work to replace the men that are fighting or should they focus on the gender role as a mother. Many women were forced to do both to support themselves and their family. These women were still not treated equally because it was seen out of their normal role to work. The media was portraying two ideals that many women struggled to fulfill. Being a good mother/wife and working for your country. After the end of world war one women lost their jobs to the returning soldiers. But after having jobs many women felt more independent and a new fashion emerged. Coco Chanel was created and women were defining normal gender role and wearing much more risqué cloths. World war Two saw women having another chance to join the work force. Other country’s for example Germany had a mandatory year of work for women called Berufsausbildungsprogramm where girls would work on farms. Women in Germany did work for the military but mostly only in support capacities. In the US propaganda was created to encourage women to do their part in the war and work in a war factory. Rose the Riveter was a character created to show the ideal working women. “My husband wanted to start a family. But then, he wanted to join up, because of his brother, who