Women After Ww2 Essay

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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. …show more content…

The first of the armed force branches to receive women was the Army. Because of all the men needed to fight overseas, Congresswomen Edith Nourse Rogers created a bill in May 1941, that called for an all-volunteer army corps for women. General George Marshall witnessed the successful British use of women in service; therefore, he, along with support from Eleanor Roosevelt, helped the bill pass Congress, which created the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAACs) in May 1942. A very important women for the WAACs and the rest of the community was Oveta Culp Hobby, the director of the WAACs, who proved that women could still be “ladylike” and be a military woman (Bellafaire). When addressing the first class of women, she explained to them that “[They] have made the change from peacetime pursuits to wartime tasks. From the individualism of civilian life to the anonymity of mass military life. [They] have given up comfortable homes, highly paid positions, leisure. You have taken off silk and put on khaki. And all for essentially the same reason— [they] have a debt and a date. A debt to democracy, and a date with destiny.” Her

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