Women's Roles During Ww2

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The role of women impacted the outcome of WWII on and off the battlefield. Previous to WWII women generally did not work. It was not socially acceptable. World War II started in 1939 and lasted six years. There were two sides the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II has had the most casualties ever recorded (World War II). Many new programs were created during WWII so that women could serve in the military. World War II was the first time women were officially allowed to serve in the United States military (MNHS). Although it was not advertised that women were fighting is was very clear that women were needed to win the war (MNHS). Seventy percent of women during WWII had previously held "desk" jobs (MNHS). Such as typists, clerks, and …show more content…

Those women were still needed (MNHS). They filled spots held previously by men so that more men could fight (MNHS). Women were not allowed to fight on the front lines but came very close to it (MNHS). Thousands of women served in WAC(Women's Army Corps) during World War II (Bellafaire). They were the first women to serve in the army other than nurses (Bellafaire). Many people did not like that women were serving in the army (Bellafaire). However military leaders realized that women could fill in jobs needed to supply the army meaning that more men could fight (Bellafaire). During WWII the US had several pilot shortages (Carpien). The government decided to let women fly military planes so that male pilots could go fight overseas (Carpien). The new group was called Women Airforce Service Pilots or WASP (Carpien). Henry Arnold a general of the US Air Force said he wasn't sure "whether a slip of a girl could fight the controls of a B-17 in heavy weather" (Carpien). Over 1,100 volunteer women flew military aircraft(Carpien). They tested new planes (Carpien). They were also used as targets to give gunners shooting training (Carpien). WASP was canceled after two years (Carpien). Naval …show more content…

SOE stands for Special Operations Executive (Morris). One of the first SOE members was not British (Mawer). She was an American named Virginia Hall (Mawer). Virginia Hall was living in Paris when the war started (Fox). She went to England and volunteered for SOE after the Vichy-government took over in Paris (Fox). After training with the SOE she returned to Paris and worked with the Resistance until the Nazi's had control (Fox). She lived in France when it was invaded by the Germans (Mawer). She posed as a journalist in France for 14 months (Mawer). Noor Inayat Khan was brought up in Paris after a marriage between her father an Indian prince and a distant relative (Mawer). Khan was taught about the fashion of the French (Mawer). She was a poet, musician, and an author (Mawer). In 1940 she joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (Mawer). She was a wireless operator (Mawer). She was exactly what the SOE needed as she could speak French and knew how to operate a wireless (Mawer). She worked with PROSPER in Paris (Mawer). Khan avoided being captured for months (Mawer). She was betrayed in October (Noor Inayat Khan). Khan was arrested by the Gestapo (Noor Inayat Khan). She had kept all of her copies of the secret signals (Noor Inayat Khan). The Germans were able to trick her (Noor Inayat Khan). She was captured again after she escaped for a few hours (Noor Inayat Khan). When Khan was recaptured

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