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World War I is remembered as a soldier's conflict for the six million men who were mobilized and for the high military casualties compared to civilian deaths. However, it was also a total war, where the entire nation's population was involved. Everyone contributed to the war efforts from civilians working in factories making uniforms, guns, tanks and ammunition, to families with men at the front. Probably the most prevalent group that contributed a major role in World War I, were women. They took on many responsibilities not only at the home, replacing men in offices and factories but also serving in the arm forces. More that 25,000 women served in Europe in WW I, they helped nurse the wounded, and provide food and other supplies to the military. They served as telephone operators, entertain troops and adhered to the expectations that were pressured on them from society. Their actions in World War I eventually led to the passing of the 19th amendment. 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. Many factories became short-handed and had to hire women to cover the jobs. The factories were very dangerous and unhealthy, and the women were only getting paid half the wages of men. The women were not unionized because the Labor Union said that they had to hire many women to replace one man and that the skilled tasks were broken in to several less skilled tasks. They had no protection, so their lungs and skin were exposed to dangerous chemicals. Many women worked in munitions factories, where they worked with sulphur.
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
is only a snapshot of one moment in history. It does not tell us about
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.
Plan of Investigation This investigation will evaluate the question, to what extent did the British Women’s Auxiliary Air Force assist the Allies’ war efforts during the Second World War? This question is important because in World War 1 British women were active in the war effort but to a limited extent, acting as nurses on the battle field and working in munitions factories, but resumed their traditional roles in society after the war. In World War 2 women were more active in the military through auxiliary groups, such as Women’s Auxiliary Force (WAAF) and it is important to understand how much of an impact their work made on the Allies war effort.
Women helped in the ammunition factories, where dangerous sulphur made their skin turn yellow.3 The government's opinion changed from thinking that women were incapable of responsible positions. The government tried to ignore the fact that they worked in the ammunition factories, and said that they weren't serving their country, but they finally accepted that through this and other types of work, women were
Women experienced a major changes in their role in society during the war. Many women had to fill in while the men were away at war, and stepped up to fill the men's work. Women in the factory greatly increased, which caused daycare centers to rise up. When the war ended most women did return to their previous lifestyle, but many continued to work in the factories.
When World War 1 broke out in 1914, a lot of people joined up for the
During the World War II women's role were focused on one thing, taking over what used to be the roles of men. Although jobs such as being a nurse, a teacher or working in the textile department swing and making clothes were still essentially classified as the typical “woman's job”, the war provided them not so much a gateway but a wider job opportunity to work in different fields. Such as in munitions factories, earning the name Munitionettes and working in the Armed Forces. In the munitions factories the women worked in all manner of production ranging from making ammunition to uniforms to aircrafts. They counted bullets which were sent to the soldiers at war, they mended aircrafts used by pilots during the war to shoot down enemies like birds in the sky.
During WWI, women civilian workers had no official status with the military so they were forced to find their own food and stay overseas. They also had no legal protection, medical care, and no disability benefits. These women came home to America in a time of economic boom, but it was not long after this boom that the US went into a state of economic depression. This depression did not help women’s equality in terms of work especially since married women were deterred from working so that men would have less competition for already scarce jobs. However, the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the US entering World War II turned that all around for the women of the United States. The demand for women in the work force rose along with the economy.
Women now being able to contribute to their society while the men were gone were good and bad. It was good because women now had some type of job and they were partially appreciated at times. It was bad because even though they were getting some type of pay, they weren't getting the equal pay and they were always getting discriminated by the jobs they had to do. The article of Striking Women stated that “The entry of women into occupations which were regarded as highly skilled and as male preserves, for example as drivers of fire engines, trains and trams and in the engineering, metal and shipbuilding industries, renewed debates about equal pay”(Striking Women). Women were working but they all earned different kind of amounts,Some wanted to argue and go on strike but they were outnumbered by the people that made the decision, so they just worked until they were told not to anymore. Turned out that women were just there to take the positions, some women were even scared to see what was going to happen when the men came back“they were also concerned that after the war, veterans would return to work and find that they had suffered pay cuts and reductions because their jobs had been reclassified as “female” positions while they were fighting overseas”(Massachusetts
Since women were working more, they had the opportunity to help with the war efforts. Working women increased by twenty-five percent during WWI. As women started to receive more and more freedoms, they began to work more and some even started going to college. The amount of women attending college rose by ten percent. The jobs that they did were factory workers, secretaries, sales clerks, and telephone operators. To top everything off, women got the right to vote and earned the rights they truly
The outbreak of World War one changed the life of women who were mainly tied to the life of domesticity. Women were taught to clean, cook and look after the children. However, as the men were being conscripted for the war, women were starting to play an important role in the following three main areas. Women undertook the jobs that only man did but with the men at war, women stepped up and undertook the predominantly male jobs. Other women took voluntary work as their contribution to the war effort. Another area of importance that women undertook was the grueling and the important work of nursing; often in dangerous war zones.
During America’s involvement in World War Two, which spanned from 1941 until 1945, many men went off to fight overseas. This left a gap in the defense plants that built wartime materials, such as tanks and other machines for battle. As a result, women began to enter the workforce at astonishing rates, filling the roles left behind by the men. As stated by Cynthia Harrison, “By March of [1944], almost one-third of all women over the age of fourteen were in the labor force, and the numbers of women in industry had increased almost 500 percent. For the first time in history, women were in the exact same place as their male counterparts had been, even working the same jobs. The women were not dependent upon men, as the men were overseas and far from influence upon their wives.
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.
During the first world war, there were over 65 million male soldiers from 30 different countries. These soldiers were husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, and friends. Millions of these men left to fight a battle they would never return from. World War I, also known as the Great War or the War to End All Wars, took place in France, Italy, Russia, and Turkey in 1914 and ended in 1918. The war was between countries such as Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Turkey. This war was different from any other due to its use of “advanced weapons” such as machine guns, barbed wires, and tanks. There are many different causes of World War I. The underlying causes were imperialism, militarism, and the alliances formed between several European countries.