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World War I: Equal Opportunities For Women

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It is a well-known fact that the First World War created a large impact on the whole world, both economically and socially. There is a lot of controversies when it comes to the facts as there is never a specific time where a huge change happens. However, when time was nearing 1929, women gained a stronger right to vote, began to take on jobs outside of being a wife and were also included in the law. This clearly proves that during the time between 1914-1929 lead to many significant changes for women because at that current time, changes were needed to accommodate the absence of the men who left for the war.

Significant changes for women were proven as they were able to gain the right to vote after the First World War through multiple protests …show more content…

“It recommended new labor standards and safeguarded existing ones, called for wage rates based on productivity rather than the sex of the worker, and especially fought for health and safety regulations.” (Boris, Michael) After decades of the women’s group demanded equality, they were finally rewarded a policymaking and advisory agency in July 1918. This was created to allow women to be paid by the quality of work rather than gender along with the health of the workers. To top it off, with the continuous movements, they continued to improve the equality that they were striving for to the point where women’s safety and well-being become a permanent agency in the Labor apartment. “Responding to the perceived power of the women's movement and the enfranchisement of women voters, Congress created Women's Bureau as a permanent agency of the Labor Department on June 5, 1920, "to formulate standards and policies which shall promote the welfare of wage-earning women, improve their working conditions, increase their efficiency, and advance their opportunities for profitable employment." “ By increasing the wages women were allowed to earn, families were able to be more financially stable. Before the Great War started, women employment rates were only at 23.6% which was able to be …show more content…

If a woman decides to get married, the “married women were legally dead in the eyes of the law”. This showing the obvious favouring towards men at the time as they would gain all the women’s land, money and the control over her. Though it may seem as an inhumane idea, this continued for quite amount of time as many citizens didn’t think of it as being unfair, majority being men. “After WWI, some women were more appreciated than before WWI. However, when the men got back from war most women were laid off. Even if they were laid off at least they would soon realize that they are equal to men and protest against this.” (Coomber) Even though women were pushed aside once again to make room for the men coming back from the war, this was truly a positive event in history. After working and getting out of the house, women started to realize how unfair they were being treated. Thus, they slowly started to voice their complaints about this subject and slowly become a big deal to the point where the government could not ignore the protests. In the end, through many protests and movements, they were able to change the law from completely ignoring the fact that women are also human to worrying about the safety of the female

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As World War 2 progresses, we will see millions of males being drafted after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. This created a lack of manpower in the workforce which women beginning to take the jobs that men usually before the war. As women move into the workforce during World War 2 they will experience inequality and discrimination. Despite the inequality and discrimination that women had to endure to while working during World War 2 was a good experience for women across America. Women entered the workforce open up many opportunities, “It had been long assumed women couldn't do those jobs -- engineering, other professions in the sciences, manufacturing jobs that had been considered men's work, things women were believed to be too weak to do” (kcts9.org).

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How World War 1 changed for women, WW1 changed significantly for women in Australia. This led to a large demand for workers, so women back in Australia had to pick up the slack. The reason that WW1 changed significantly for women in WW1 is because a large number of men were getting enlisted into the war, leading to a huge drop in the workers back in Australia. The main jobs that women had to pick up were manufacturing and agriculture and many more others to come.

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In addition to this, unions of the time also continued this movement as predominantly male trade unions began to accept female members. (Fieldes, 2013) This left-wing source possesses bias that places disproportionate emphasis on the importance of unionisation, yet still remains relevant. However, this movement towards liberation experienced widespread traditionalist opposition, one such man writing to the Argus, “Would they [women] not be better fitted for jobs too often held by men in the city shops?” (Guthrie, 1941, pg 7) Despite aforementioned opposition, the movement for equal pay and opportunity for women flourished. Women were greatly liberated from previous roles during World War Two as their increased financial equality allowed for greater freedoms, including the foundation of auxiliary

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Written by The United States Department of Labour, Women’s Bureau, this page talks about the history of Women’s Bureau but, mainly what changes occurred in America to benefit women against unsafe work environments, discrimination, work opportunities. With facts like “In 1920, women were 21 percent of all gainfully occupied persons. In 2010, they were 47% of employed persons” the Women’s Bureau has shown the improvements over time along with what roles women were mostly involved with during that time. However, compared to other texts, this only gives facts with no additional information causing it to lack additional information to work off of.

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World War 1 was a big help to women's rights. Some reasons on why world war 1 led to many important social changes were volunteering during the war. Women like jane Addams, Jeannette Rankin, and Carrie Chapman Catt. Another reason was women worked as clerical workers. Women were not drafted into the war because congress passed the selective service act, which only allowed men between the ages of 21 and 30 to fight in the war.

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Women would take advantage of these opportunities and strive for greatness, not only to paint their own picture, but to build society into something enormous. “During WW1, women began to run family businesses, trained as nurses, planted gardens to feed their families and neighbors, worked in factories, and preformed many other duties to keep the country going” (Hossell, Karen P: The nineteenth Amendment Women Get the Vote , page 20). When men came back to see that women were running their jobs they were heated, they didn’t like this idea. Some of them saw that they can do what they did and they should be rewarded for helping the country stay on track. “By the end of the war more than 30,000 women had served their country were, in part, what convinced President Woodrow Wilson that women should be given the right to vote” (Hossell, Karen P: The Nineteenth Amendment Women Get the Vote, page 20).

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As a result of the war women were forced into the workforce due to many of the men being away at war. Many women had to run the family farm and work in factories and stores due to the reduced workforce. This provided an opportunity for women to obtain new job skills and change the belief that a woman’s place was in the home. Also, World War I provided an opportunity for women to enlist in the military as nurses and as part of the Naval Coastal Defense Reserve. Women participation in the labor force was helpful in the women’s suffrage movement that eventually gave women the right to vote thru the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920.

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At first, there was refusal towards hiring women for what was known as ‘men’s work’, once conscription was introduced in 1916, the need for women workers was crucial. Women started working in areas such as railway guards and ticket collectors, buses and tram conductors, postal workers, police, firefighter and as bank ‘tellers’ and clerks. Some even worked on heavy machinery. Nonetheless, women earned lower wages for doing the same work, and then demands for equal pay began. Since women were paid less than men, people worried that when the men would come back from the war,

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As depicted in Document 3, more women were joining the workforce in factories and having jobs only before being occupied by men. More women were joining the workforce in response to the open positions caused by men enlisting and being drafted into the war. To continue the U.S.'s productivity of supplies and to support themselves and their families, women began to take positions in workplaces that were mostly looked at to be as men's jobs by society. Women had more financial independence and were able to be employed in a larger variety of jobs due to the need for women working in factories to make materiels for World War

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The Effect of Women on the Outcome of World War Two World War II effected women tremendously by taking them out of their comfort zones and chucking them into the work force and pushing them to do most of the work men normally would have been doing. The war also effected women by providing opportunities for them to serve in non-traditional roles; in fact, some of them enlisted into the military to serve the United States. The way the war effected women is that they had to take care of family in addition to performing work normally done by men. It was difficult to find people to watch after kids which made life during this time very difficult. After the end of World War II society in general was effected considering the baby boom.

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During the war women had enjoyed the feeling being independent. The feeling of losing the little power they had during the war was devastating. As the United States was becoming a nation the ideology of separate spheres became more clear and women and men were treated completely differently, “American women never manage the outward concerns of the family, or conduct a business or take a part in political life; nor are they, on the other hand, ever compelled t perform the rough labor of the fields, or make any of those laborious exertions, which demand the exertion of physical strength. No families are so poor, as t form an exception to this rule.” (Dumenil 156).

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Before the war broke out women were restricted to housewife jobs such as cooking and cleaning. Not every woman wants to do housewife duties. I believe that people started to realize that not everybody is cut out for a certain job description. After the war started and men were shipped overseas, women were finally able to do more productive jobs like factory or office jobs. Women were even given the chance to become nurses for the Red Cross Association.

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The First World War was transformative event in the history of women’s rights because the women can work while the men go off to war, if their husbands die they would able to provide for their family, women will have their own money to spend, and because they convince men to do things that they wouldn’t normally do. When men go off to war they won’t be able to work in factories to keep the country running. That is when women come in, because, “women can be employed in many areas to a still greater degree than previously and men can thereby be freed for other work” (D2). In this case, the work that the men are doing is war. When the women fill the jobs left vacant by the soldiers, they created a foothold for women to have a place in the workforce

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Before World War I, women were not seen as equals to men. Until only recently, women being treated like garbage was nothing out of the ordinary. Their only significance in society’s view was to have children, clean the house, and cook for the family. Women were rarely found living without a husband because they were thought to be unable to support themselves financially. These oppressing ideas were only tiny sparks to the flame women would unleash once

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Laws were written, but they were not practiced in everyday life. More importantly, many of the perceived privileges given to women were often made out of necessity and did not improve the lives of the women. ’(Pol O’Dochartaigh,) Compare the two world war, the development of women status after world war one have a more significant effect as it built up the foundation for the raise of women status in Germany for example give the female who is more than twenty years old a voting right and have more freedom in their living while after ww2 there were laws that more detail protect the women’s right by

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