Do you ever wonder how many peoples actions and attributions have been overlooked, ignored, or taken credit for in the past? Well Double Victory by Cheryl Mullenbach gives the public a deep and detailed look into many African- American women’s lives in the past, and how their attempts to help win World War II were far overlooked and ignored. This was based strictly on the fact that they were African American Women. This book shows the barriers; both racial and gender, that these strong black women needed to break to receive full credit and respect for what they have accomplished. The overall theme and or purpose of this book was to expose the racial and sexual discrimination African American women experienced just to do their work, and shows
In the United States, women weren’t allowed to join the military until the beginning of the twentieth century. This law, however, didn’t stop northerner Deborah Sampson. Like a modern era Mulan, Sampson dressed up as a man in the continental army during the Revolutionary War. Deborah Sampson showed perseverance, bravery, and a disregard for gender norms as she fought alongside unsuspecting men for over two years, earning herself a rightful place in the history books that has yet to be properly represented. Deborah Sampson was born into a poor family in the southeastern part of Massachusetts and worked as an indentured servant for 12 years as she grew up.
During World War II, Woman’s were assembled for duty in the Canadian Armed Forces, for the first time. The armed force was shy of men in war services and administration, which lead the Canadian government to choose and declare on August 13, 1941 to give woman’s the privilege to take an interest in war utility. 50,000 women were enlisted and more than half provided service in the Canadian Army. Most were doled out occupations including customary female work, for example, cooking, clothing and administrative obligations, also woman had pioneer roles in the mechanized and specialized fields. The Canadian Women 's Army Corps (CWAC) performed fundamental administrations, both at home and abroad, that achieved Allied victory.
In the document “Hortense Johnson Describes Black Women and the War Effort, 1943” the reader sees what type of work was asked of her and what difficulties she had to go through daily to accomplish it all. Hortense Johnson was a young lady working as an inspector in a war plant amongst five others. She nearly got into every little detail of her job and how she spent her day from the moment she woke up to go to work until she left her work to go home. During this period of time, many women and young ladies were asked to help with the war effort by working jobs that usually men would acquire. But due to the instant and constant need of more soldiers on the battlefield, the labor force was lacking individuals to take place of soldiers.
In "From Coveralls to Zoot Suits: The Lives of Mexican American Women on the World War II Home Front," Elizabeth R. Escobedo examines the experiences of Mexican American women during World War II. Escobedo argues that Mexican American women faced both challenges and opportunities during the war. On the one hand, the war created new job opportunities for women, including Mexican American women, as men went off to fight. Many Mexican American women found work in defense industries such as aircraft manufacturing, which helped to improve their economic status.
Deborah Sampson was the first known American woman soldier who disguised herself under her deceased brother’s name in order to fight in the American Revolutionary War. During this time women were not given rights to infantry, but were often nurses in the military. Like many other people who contributed to the society, Deborah Sampson had many failures along the way of her accomplishments. Deborah Sampson came from “ancestors who led the Massachusetts colony” (Furbee 1999: 56). She grew up in a broken home where both her father and mother deserted her to be raised by other relatives.
The Colonel Mary Hallaren, was known as the godmother of the women in the American military. She was a true advocate, before and after her retirement, for women’s rights to serve in the military, especially in the regular army. She believed that women were not the exception in serving. Therefore, she began to alter the society she lived in by proving that women were able to perform more than certain tasks and showed that women were able to serve the the same way as men did.
Even some women would go so far to gather money to put clothes on the soldier’s back or sew their clothes. Others would travel with the men, whether it is camp followers, who were women who washed, cooked, nursed, sew, gather supplies, and even in some cases be sex partners or spies. Women dressed up as men and changed their name to fight as a soldier, or General’s wives who just wanted to be with their husbands like Martha Washington or Caty Greene. Not only do we see the point of the war through the women’s eyes that resisted British rule, but also from the eyes of Frederika von Residesel whose husband, Fritz Residesel, who fought for Britain. Indian women also felt the effects of the war, because they thought that “if America won their social roles would be changed and their power within their communities diminished” (Berkin.107).
In the address, “The Role of American Women in Wartime”, Clare Boothe Luce, an American congresswoman, advocates for the American women’s contribution to the war efforts at the women's banking committee. Although Luce’s speech opens with a controversial and condemning topic, Luce further explicates it, recognizing the struggles and difficulties that must be dealt with. Luce employs contrasting and critical tone, repetition, and imagery to highlight women’s needed sacrifices for the sake of America’s victory. Luce introduces with a contrasting and critical tone in order to emphasize that an adjustment must occur for the female system in America.
During World War I, many women started to protest in groups and form political organisations against the concepts behind war, as women believed war to be “[...] Another version of the strong oppressing the weak, and thus an empathic for of patriarchy” (Gilchrist, 2014). An example of these anti-war organisations was the ‘Women Peace Society’, founded by women for women, which lasted from 1915 to 1919. They openly campaigned on the streets and in newspapers against the conscription movement in Australia (Gilchrist, 2014). This shows that the women on the home front were determined to express their opinion and make sure it was taken seriously in consideration.
During the Civil War, women spies were very successful at their jobs for a great deal of reasons. They were perfect for the role of spy because women were easily trusted and viewed as non-threatening by soldiers who, would often let their guard down around them. Men didn’t expect women would get involved in such a dangerous job, so women spies often went undetected during the early part of the Civil War. Women often gathered information about the enemy’s plans, troop size, fortifications and supplies on scraps of paper or fabric and then sewed them into their blouses or rolled them into their hair. If they were to smuggle goods such as morphine, ammunition or weapons, they often attached them to the frame of their hoop skirts or hid them in baskets and inside dolls.
The value of origin is that the article was written by a well-educated author, who has knowledge about the civil war. The value of purpose of this article is to mainly enlighten historians on the aim of feminism before and during the civil war. Regardless of being slightly irrelevant to my investigation, the article gives me a strong understanding of what characteristics women had to have in order to fulfill the requirements of becoming a spy. The value of content of this article is that it is about how a couple years before the civil war started, they held the Seneca Falls Convention emphasizing on the relevance of women in that time period. Whilst the civil war, many feminists rose to take a part in the war, some became enlightened nurses, others became spies, and a few became social activists speaking on behalf of the colored people.
Women were well suited for providing nourishment and necessities for the army due to their skills obtained by their accustomed housework. “...the American army often recruited the many female camp followers to fill these jobs” (Brooks 2013, para. 17). They had slowly began to achieve recognition in society, especially war. It was then, that woman had begun to silently “protest” on having the same equal opportunity as men. During the war, women created a role for themselves to side amongst the male soldiers: a secret soldier.
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.
The women’s rights arguments for abortion involve not only placing an appropriate value on the lives and freedom of women but also accepting that it may sometimes be permissible to sacrifice the life of a foetus. In the early 1970s, the women's movement demanded that abortion be legalized as part of a larger movement for women's rights. It was clear that, without control over their own reproductive lives, women couldn't be the equals of men no matter what advances women made in the job market or in higher education. This is why socialists argue that all women deserve the right to control their own bodies, without interference from anyone. And also in the 1970s, the women's movement demanded legal abortion as a right, which should be available
