The Employment Opportunities of Women in Britain in 1914 at the Outbreak of War
Women did not really have many jobs before the war started in 1914.
Women were not permitted to have jobs because if they were married
their loyalties ran with their husbands. This also applied if they had
a child. The women's job was to make sure that the house was nice,
clean and tidy for their husband to come back to and they had to cook
all of the meals. Overall in life the women were expected to do all of
this. They had to accept that they could not go to work; it was the
job of their husband. The women were dependent upon the men to bring
in the money so that they could go and buy everything so that they
could cook the meals.
Some women did go into working labour such as textiles, dressmaking,
and clerical workers and in the food industries. Even with these jobs
they could not compare to the amount of women who just did domestic
services around either their own home or for their employers at their
home. This mainly happened in the Sweated Trade, which was clothing
and dress making. In the sweated trade women were often paid 'piece
rate' for the amount of items that they made in a week.
The men expected the women to give up their jobs once they became
married. This is because the men did not think that it was acceptable
to send their wives out to work. Most women had to have jobs as
domestic helpers because their husbands did not bring in enough money
for them to survive on altogether so they needed to earn extra money
for food. Not all of this money came form completing domestic
services; they had to have other jobs as well because the earnings
were not that high for women. Women were paid two to three times less
than men even if they did the same hours a day. Over the country in
the industrial areas of Britain was where most of the women worked in
-at home, it is the culture for women to serve the men first, and then eat with their children after the men have finished
is only a snapshot of one moment in history. It does not tell us about
Families with limited financial resources had to sell their personal goods or labor to feed and clothe themselves. In poor families, the housewives had to cook meals, make clothing, and clean in addition to making household goods to use and sell. Middle class and upper class women shared in most of these chores in their households, but often had servants to help.
So her, her mom, and her sisters usually took care of all the planting, weeding, harvesting the garden, and harvesting the fruit. There was absolutely no electric washing machines, henceforth several hours of scrubbing on a washboard wasn’t uncommon either.
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.
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.
"Leeds Express: 4 March 1868 I wonder, Mr Editor, Why I can't have the vote; And I will not be contented Till I've found the reason out I am a working woman, My voting half is dead, I hold a house, and want to know Why I can't vote instead I pay my rates in person, Under protest tho, it's true; But I pay them, and I'm qualified To vote as well as you. " Sarah Ann Jackson The purpose of this investigation is to analyse the issues surrounding the eventual enfranchisement of women in 1918, to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of the militant Suffragette campaign in the early years of the twentieth century and to decide whether the outbreak of war was instrumental in achieving enfranchisement, or merely a fortunate coincidence. The poem written by Sarah Ann Jackson underlines the fact that many middle class women had, throughout the reign of Queen Victoria, taken issue with men's dominance over their lives and had worked hard throughout these years to draw attention to women's right to equality. For these women, enfranchisement was not their sole aim.
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.
World War I is remembered as a soldier's conflict for the six million men who
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. Yet, at the end of the war, the same ideas that encouraged women to accept new roles had an averse affect on women, encouraging them to leave the workforce. The patriotism promoted by propaganda in the 1940s, encouraged Americans to support the war effort and reinforced the existing patriarchal society. Propaganda's use of patriotism not only increased loyalty to America during the war, but also, increased loyalty to the traditional American patriarchal values held in society.
Women played a crucial role during World War II, both with the production of war materials, and keeping our country from sliding back into a depression. Since the 1940s, women have continued to struggle to prove that they can do the same jobs that a male worker can do, and should get paid the same amount for it. Equal pay for women has continued to be an intensely debated subject since World War II, when women stepped up to fill the void in the workforce that men left behind when they courageously fought to defend our country.
The Changing Role and Status of Women in Britain Since 1900 Before the Victorian era, women were deemed very much as second class citizens; any idea of women being anywhere near as equal to men would be having been thought ridiculous before this era. But the Victorian era was one of innovation and change, everything was questioned; religion, society and the idea of women being equal to men. But would British politics surely allow women the vote, many men thought that if women were allowed to vote, they might have been kicked out of office due to sheer weight of numbers. The idea of women suffrage began during the 1800s when many powerful land owners who were women thought why they should not have the vote when they are just as powerful and influential as many men. Entering this world at the same time was the lady philanthropist who wanted to go on a journey of self discovery; they found that going out to help people instead of remaining in their so called "domestic havens" was so much more fulfilling.
My father was a shoemaker, and my mother was a housewife. Back in Italy, women used to stay home with the kids, rather than finding a job, or whatever. We had a small garden in our house with some vegetables, and she spent their days there, with the plants. Most houses had a patch where they cultivated some plants to eat (sic).
“Gee, I wish I were a man!” It is an odd thing for a woman to say, but during World War II this saying was a common advertisement to encourage women to join the workforce during the war. The
period. In the Victorian period women were to clean, cook, take care of kids, and whatever her