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The position of women has changed in society over time
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The role of women through history
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The 1940’s were a turning point for women in the workforce. Women were perceived to be the weaker sex by society and faced social prejudices in efforts to become part of the workforce. The common belief was that women were intellectually inferior to men, incapable of making decisions regarding their household, and should not work outside of the home. Their job was to maintain the home, raise the children, and be supportive wives of the working husband. The war brought challenges, new jobs, new skills and lots of opportunities for women. Women were needed for jobs that were traditionally deemed for males only. According to Mathis (1994), government propaganda was responsible for much of the change in society’s acceptance of women in …show more content…
In 1942, according to Goldin (1991), women were inducted into the armed services. A bill was presented to the House of Representatives to establish a women’s auxiliary in the Army. As a result, the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps was formed. The Navy had the (WAVES) Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, the Coast Guard established the (SPARS) Semper Paratus – their motto meaning “Always Read”, and the Marines accepted women. IN 1943, two other groups were formed giving women the opportunity to fly airplanes. The (WAFA), Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron) and the WASP (Women’s Airforce Service Pilots) who tested planes and ferried them from one American coast to the other. Mathis (1994) stated that in 1944, over 100,000 women had entered branches of the military service to release men from combat duty. Moves were used as part of the propaganda to influence them to join the armed forces. Newspaper and magazines were also used to glamorize military life. During the war, nurses were on duty, and the need for more nurses arose. As a result, in 1943, congress passed a bill to provide funding for the nursing school to fill the need for the severe …show more content…
However, the progress made by women was met with resistance. In 1947, a book titled: The Modern Woman: The Lost sex was written by Marynia Farnham (a psychoanalyst) and Ferdinand Lunberg (sociologist). According to Farnham & Lunberg (1947), women were aggressive, maladjusted and unable to accept their “fundamental role as wife and mother”. It was believed that women’s discontent and desire to pursue masculine strivings also had unfortunate consequences for their husbands. Instead of supporting and encouraging male dominance, she was imposing feelings of inadequacy and
The depression in the 1930s and United States’ entry into World War II brought the new wave of nationalism. As the American women began to participate in the industries by taking jobs in factories and offices, new ideas of liberty and independence began to emerge. Women started to question what they should and could do. As the sense of dissatisfaction among women grew rapidly, feminists became active in fighting against the sex discrimination in all areas of society. Ultimately, the release of The Feminine Mystique in the early 1960, Betty Friedan’s work revealing women’s grievance toward their “perfect family life” caught attention of women across the country. The ideology of perfect housewife began to shift as the American women began to seek for the meaning of their marriages and their position in society, which led to the cultural shift towards feminism in the 1960s.
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.
Before 1939, women were looked at as weak, incompetent and incapable of doing a man’s job. However, when World War II broke out, women were called to maintain the jobs that the men once occupied and it became evident that America’s best chance for success in World War II would have to include the efforts of American females. Women played a key role during World War II in the U.S. More than six million women took wartime jobs in factories, three million volunteered with the Red Cross, and over 200,000 served in the military. Through these jobs, women were able to show society that they were capable of doing bigger and better things.
The Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps was instituted in May of 1942 by Congress. It was later changed to the Women’s Army Corps which also had full military status. There were more than 100,000 WAC’s and 6,000 female officers by 1945. Another role women played in the war was given by the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots. (American Women in World War II) Women who obtained a pilot license prior to service became the first to fly American military aircraft. Over 1,000 WASPs served in the military and thirty-eight lost their lives during the war. The fallen WASPs were not granted military benefits or honors and it was not until 1977 that they were given full military status. (American Women in World War II)
The "feminine mystique" that American culture promotes is entirely dependent upon its ideas, beliefs, and needs of the time. American culture has always tended to influence women into doing what the day and age required. After men went to war there was a gap in the work force that needed to be filled. During World War II women were the most available to join the work force. Due to the discouragement to raise families during the Great Depression and the fact that most men of age had entered the war, many women were left without families to look after and men to take to take care of them. "Most women toiled at unskilled jobs; most were young, single, and without children" (307). This lack of family and funds left women with no other place to go besides the factories. Women's need for work was nursed along by the media as well as the public.
By late 1943, there was more than 310,000 women working in the unites states aircraft which was 65% more than that of those who worked previously before the war. This amount was the greatest increase in aviation industry. Along with working in factory’s, nearly 350,000 women joined the military either at home service base or overseas. many were pilots whose job was to transfer cargo from factories to military bases. While others participated in simulation strafing and target missions.
Woman in the 1930’s were treated very differently to how they are treated today. Unlike modern day, they were thought to be the perfect housewife, mother and carer and it was not easy for them to get a decent job. If they did manage to get a job they were frowned upon because they were ‘taking jobs from men.’ Which shows even though they were legally ‘equal’ due to them being allowed to vote. They were still seen as ‘inferior’ to men. Their expectations were to do the housework, bring up the children, cater to their husband’s every need and have all the responsibilities of home life rested on their shoulders, without the man’s
The film titled, “The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter”, looks at the roles of women during and after World War II within the U.S. The film interviews five women who had experienced the World War II effects in the U.S, two who were Caucasian and three who were African American. These five women, who were among the millions of women recruited into skilled male-oriented jobs during World War II, shared insight into how women were treated, viewed and mainly controlled. Along with the interviews are clips from U.S. government propaganda films, news reports from the media, March of Time films, and newspaper stories, all depicting how women are to take "the men’s" places to keep up with industrial production, while reassured that their duties were fulfilling the patriotic and feminine role. After the war the government and media had changed their message as women were to resume the role of the housewife, maid and mother to stay out of the way of returning soldiers. Thus the patriotic and feminine role was nothing but a mystified tactic the government used to maintain the American economic structure during the world war period. It is the contention of this paper to explore how several groups of women were treated as mindless individuals that could be controlled and disposed of through the government arranging social institutions, media manipulation and propaganda, and assumptions behind women’s tendencies which forced “Rosie the Riveter” to become a male dominated concept.
And the book, “We Served Too: The Story of the Airforce Service Pilots of World War II” elaborates on just that. It takes readers from female empowerment to the gender discrimination and gender stereotyping they endured all the while being powerful all set around the second World War. World War II was the first real and authentic experience and opportunity for American women to be able to branch out from what once was their typical traditional occupations. Rather than the prospects of being a homemaker, nurse, or teacher because it was the social norm of the day, women now were very much able to explore other interests and occupations. Women could now work in factories, but cooler than that women could now explore the aviation industry and women could now join the war effort itself exclusively in noncombatant roles in the military overseas as well as within the border of the U.S (1,
World War II era was a very progressive time in which women overcame many obstacles in the workforce. With the men away at war, the women of America were encouraged to get out of their housewife mentality and perform their American duty. One field that targeted almost exclusively women was nursing. And with the country in the break of war, the demand for nurses soared. In 1943, women were officially commissioned into the army. The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corp was commissioned and converted into the Women’s Army Corps, which included the Army Nurse Corp (Highlights in the History of Military Women). Because of this extensive change, the way that women were recruited to participate in the war effort changed too. Appendices A, B, C, D are from
For hundreds of years, women have been discriminated against, but in the past decade, women have made an extensive amount of progress. Ever since the first feminist revolution, women have strived to achieve true equality. Gender equality sounds like a simple task, yet the world still has not reached this point. Although the progress has been slow, women have made major advancements, proving that they can achieve true equality.
between the genders. Women and men have differences, but that does not mean women are any less qualified to do the things men do. Sexism in the 1940’s lead to unequal treatment between genders which caused problems in society. This is true for not only the time period of the 1940’s but also with women in today’s society. Women are not treated as an equal to men because of the lack of recognition in the workforce, stereotypical household jobs, and women often being a second choice for places in society.
It has been said that “after a brief period of freedom and opportunity during World War II, American women went ‘back to the kitchen.’” The War was a time of great turmoil and change. One of the most noticeable changes was the increase of women in the workforce, because many women had to obtain a job or career outside of the home for the first time. The expectation was that when the men returned from fighting, the women would give up their jobs and return home (Milkman, WA, 553). When the war was over, the public began to seek a feeling of safety and security. One of the ways this was found was by embracing the more conventional gender roles, with men and women in separate spheres. With a renewed emphasis on marriage, couples began to marry
World War II brought upon us a time of scarcities: In food, in money, in soldiers, and in the working class. From 1940-1945 the midst of the war brought a shift upon the workers in North America. Suddenly, with most of the men overseas or in tied up in military affairs, it became acceptable for middle class women to workforce. 1940-1945 showed an amazing 50% increase in the female labour force with an incredible 462% increase in employment in the defense department (Quast, 2011). It seems hard to imagine how little we could have known on how this necessary alteration in our working practices would forever alter the foundation of not only our workplaces, but
Women were drawn into the work place in the 1960's when the economy expanded and rising consumer aspirations fueled the desire of many families for a second income. By 1960, 30.5 percent of all wives worked and the number of women graduating from college grew. (Echols, 400) Women soon found they were being treated differently and paid less then their male co-workers.