On December 8, 1941, America joined World War II following a deadly surprise attack by Japan on the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Millions of citizens were asked to participate in the war and to rise to the occasion. One group of people, American women, immensely contributed to the victory of the Allies during World War II. Women contributed more to World War II than they had to any other war. In fact, World War II was a “women’s war.” Brave women used their skill, and their immense patriotism and dedication to their families to become valuable assets to the Allies. Women’s roles in society changed considerably during World War II. They played a significant role in jobs both on and off the front lines. Women took on roles outside of the home in addition to their “traditional roles” such as watching the children and cleaning the house. Most women loved their new roles and were hesitant to give them up right after the war, although most of the women were quickly replaced by their male counterparts shortly after the conclusion of the war. During World War II women on the home front rose to the occasion and took on many jobs that required excessive hours and were previously only allocated to men. The women were challenged with new responsibilities …show more content…
Women did not like this because they enjoyed the financial and social independence they had experienced when the men were off at war. Women also played a huge role in supporting the men who were at war. They wrote many letters to their husbands, friends, and families. This gave the men at war a sense of hope and let them know what was going on at home. During this time the women also went through a lot of heartache worrying about their loved ones at war and with the loneliness they endured while caring for their family and working to make ends meet on the
Throughout World War II, women in the Allied powers stepped up and showcased their talents in intelligence, industrial production, medicine, and even combat; these contributions were essential to the Allies winning the war. In the United States, women
Women played a key role in the war, many women risk their lives and serve in the military, “Women’s Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs became the first women to fly American military aircraft. They ferried planes from factories to bases, transporting cargo and participating in simulation strafing and target missions” (History.com). For the time in American history women was doing other thing in the military. Many women enjoy their jobs during World War 2 because it was new opportunity and many were excited because they helping with the war effort. By allowing women in the workforce more will create more available manpower to fight overseas.
Women during the war became nurses, cost guards, sold war bonds, telephone operators, anything that needed to be done. When the men left for war the women stepped into to every role. Women's hard work showed that they were not as fragile as men believed and they were capable of everything a man could do. A large part of America's success in the war is attributed to the work of women. The work of women also helped convince President Wilson to support women's rights.
To achieve victory in this war, America needed massive man power which was not possible for men to provide alone. So, the different organizations working behind the war either directly or indirectly needed women in the workforce. In May 1942, the US Army formed the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (W.A.A.C) to train and prepare women to
Socially, women were given more opportunities and roles in society as they took over jobs that were unoccupied due to men heading overseas to fight in the war. For women, there was an increased participation in the workforce, especially in industries previously dominated. This was due to the labour gap created from men leaving the workforce to fight on the front lines. People were initially hesitant to assign these jobs to women, but as the war progressed and
World war 2 was the war that changed many views on the economy: during world war 2, women finally had the chance to work in jobs that were not previously opened to them. This war was a turning point for The United States; World War 2 was the war that opened many opportunities, not only for women but for people of color too. World war 2 was the war that changed many views on the economy. On December 7th, 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese, thus causing the United States to take action and declare war.
So, as seen in source 4, women were needed to work and contribute to the war effort. They were needed as teachers and taxi and bus drivers and a lot more types of jobs. Every job that men had left, the women needed to fill. This resulted in a change in the role of women. They were now able to do more, which impacted women’s rights and roles for the years during and after the war.
The Effect of Women on the Outcome of World War Two World War II effected women tremendously by taking them out of their comfort zones and chucking them into the work force and pushing them to do most of the work men normally would have been doing. The war also effected women by providing opportunities for them to serve in non-traditional roles; in fact, some of them enlisted into the military to serve the United States. The way the war effected women is that they had to take care of family in addition to performing work normally done by men. It was difficult to find people to watch after kids which made life during this time very difficult. After the end of World War II society in general was effected considering the baby boom.
Men were always the workers within the family, the ones that were expected to provide for their families. When they went to war, their role within community life needed to be filled. That is when their wives, daughters, and sisters stepped up and took over. “In addition to caring for their families, [women] were left to supervise businesses and farms while the men were away fighting” (Senker). Women were already cooking, cleaning, and caring for their children, but still made time to work and provide as a father figure every single day.
World War II is very similar to World War II with women joining the industrial workforce with over fifty percent. Women also joined the Women’s Army Corps and WAVES or Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service, but women were not allowed in combat. Many of these women that joined these two organizations performed many duties including clerical, nursing, and transportation duties with 240,000 women in their ranks. Women who took the jobs at home including the industrial jobs, textile jobs, defense jobs, and other jobs their income did go up as they moved to more important positions. Propaganda was used again to persuade women to join the war effort and help supply the men overseas.
Since the beginning of empires, women were often subservient to men. They were underrepresented in politics, forbidden from education and sometimes even the workplace. Women were expected to be homemakers, raise children and be otherwise obedient. World War II began to change this. As men went to fight, women took up their places in the workforce.
Although these jobs created a sense of independence for women, as men came back they were quickly shifted back into their pre-war roles, more than 3 million women had to leave their wartime jobs. In short, there was a domestic change in women’s roles within society because Women had to shift from their traditional home roles to new wartime
American Women during World War 2 had many responsibilities at war, work, and home. But they did not have many equal rights compared to the rest of the society. The women’s rights and responsibilities topic is very interesting. One is understanding and knowing the history about the responsibilities women had to do and how hard working they were. This topic is very important because there was a big change in women’s rights and responsibilities during World War 2.
In the book written by (Gavin, 1997) it was cited that “As women took over from their absent men in hundreds of new and challenging occupations, many of which had previously been considered inappropriate”. From the beginning of the World War 1, the German women were participating a great deal. They contributed to half a million-people working on the munitions manufacturing alone (Gavin, 1997). It also mentioned in the book that over in the U.S, the men in charge refused to let the women participate up until April 1917 (Gavin, 1997). The U.S government never formally authorize the enrolment of women, despite Army officials repeatedly asking for such personnel’s.