World War I: Equal Opportunities For Women

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

“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

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