Sexism In Ww2

One of the main reasons for the Axis losing the war, or the Allie’s winning it, was war production. The disparity between Germany’s, Japan’s, the Soviet Union’s, Great Britain 's and the United State’s resources played a consequential role in the turning point of the war in 1942. It was more than just the natural resources that caused this great divide; it was also the man- or shall we say woman- power that each country had backing them. Countries such as Germany barred women from entering a non-domestic workforce until they were so low on manpower and production that it was too late. While places such as the UK used women to the fullest extent in the task and labor force and even allowed them into low risk military jobs.

However it is the

Before World War II the prevailing view of a woman 's role was that of wife and mother. Many occupations were reserved for men and some states barred married women from holding jobs. (5,2) This was true of both the Soviet Union and in the United States. In the Soviet Union, however, due to communist ideology, women were officially considered equal to a man and were expected to hold the same responsibilities. The same could not be said of the United States where, while women now held the majority of rights a man did, she was still considered lesser and, to many, a man’s possession. In both places, sexism and the traditional view of women still stood regardless of what slowly changing societal norms implemented by the government tried to change. The battle between political ideology and traditional ideology can be seen in the propaganda of women and the role they played during World War II. Was it necessary or ideology that allowed women to play the role that they did during the war and shaped the portrayal of these women on the propaganda? If it was necessity, then the traditional ideology, that women were meant to be wives and mothers still stood. If it was the changing ideology which shaped it, one should be able to see that the previous conventions were broken and that women were equal to men. My thesis is that it was necessity which shaped the image of women in propaganda in the United States and Soviet Union, allowing them to have the significant role they