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Women After The Civil War Essay

521 Words3 Pages

Unfortunately as the war came to an end their positions in the labor force were proven to not be permanent. The image of Rosie the Riveter and what she stood for was proven to be a glorified symbol compared to the reality of their roles. Although at the time it seemed like women were making social advancements, after the war ended women were reverted back to their old social ways. In 1946, one year after the war there was a decrease of half a million women in “craftsmen and foremen” positions and the percentage of women in service positions increased. By April 1947 women were back to working service jobs and were reverted back to the same pay they were making before the war began. The government believed woman’s role in labor was to be a temporary source of work until men were able to come and fill the positions. Although the government stated that they believed women should have equal pay and fair hours they continued to give priority to male workers. The labor division policy stated that defense programs for women were not allowed to be established in cities that had a large number of employments. There were plenty of myths and assumptions that people had that said women worked just to make some …show more content…

In 2009, Barack Obama took it one step further and awarded women who participated in the WASP program the Congressional Gold Medal. Finally, in 2010, 250 female survivors were all decorated and honored for their service. Beatrice Haydu, a woman previously mentioned for her contribution to WASP, was present in the White House when Barack Obama signed the bill to issue a Congressional Gold Medal. A significant amount of time had passed before women were appropriately recognized for their efforts, but fortunately, women’s recognition has influenced today’s society to value women and their remarkable

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