WAC: Emmaline Pankhurst And Rachel Louise Carson

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History of the WAC

There have been many women pioneers. Emmaline Pankhurst, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Rachel Louise Carson all accomplished great things by taking a stand, believing in what they stood for and convincing others that their message had purpose. Emmaline Pankhurst was instrumental in getting congress to give women the right to vote. Mary Wollstonecraft was a pioneer in women’s rights in the 1700’s. Rachel Carson was an early leader in the United States environmental movement and has been called by some the founder of that movement. These are great deeds done by women who believed in a cause. They were persecuted for it, jailed, suffered ridicule and slander but would not quit.
The women who joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) were no different. They experienced all the same persecutions that any pioneer would face. They were slandered and persecuted, not only …show more content…

Local girls would dress up in the WAC uniform to gain entry onto military installations so that they could meet male soldiers. If a person impersonating a WAC was caught in any inappropriate behavior, they were assumed to be legitimate and therefore the reputation of the WAC’s suffered. The standards were higher for WAC’s. They accepted them, lived with the ridicule and hardships, and pressed on in their duties.
In July of 1943, women in the WAC were made an official part of the United States Army, no longer a separate entity. This was due to another bill passed in congress. This gave women soldiers equal rights and equal pay compared to their male counterparts. During the rest of WWII, women served in numerous capacities in the Army Air, Army Ground, and Army Service forces. They were significant in the signal corps and quartermaster corps, as well as fulfilling duties as mechanics and different aspects of medical and finance. The duties they performed were essential. In 1944 they started deploying