Wwii Impact on Women
Research Paper WWII Impact on Women
The Impact WW2 had on Women
During WW2 the presence of men at home was to a bare minimum. The impact this had on women was felt throughout the nation. How women would be looked at would be changed forever. They had to uphold various positions that were usually held by men and reevaluate their roles as homemakers. Their lives at home had changed; they were no longer the primary care giver. They also joined different parts of the military. Due to men being away at war during WW2 women were forced to participate in the workforce, which would change their view of their position in society.
With life hard on women already holding the home together while their husbands were in the war, they were forced to fill the spots that were usually held by men. Being in the workforce and doing jobs they would have never imagined doing such as: working in the factories, in transportation, and in government. These would have never been offered to women if there were men available. To get these women interested in getting involved, the “government teamed up with industry, the media, and woman’s organizations in an effort to urge them to join the labor force: their agenda: telling women it was their “patriotic duty” to go to work.” While doing these non-traditional jobs they still did jobs traditionally performed by women such as: sales and clerical, nursing, and teaching. “Nearly a million women were hired by the federal government and women's share of federal jobs increased from 18.8 per cent in 1940 to 37.5 per cent in 1945. Many women earned higher incomes than ever before, yet their wages were still not comparable to male pay. Women increasingly joined labor unions; the proportion of union members that were women raised from 9.4 per cent in 1940 to 21.8 per cent in 1944 .This shows just a few jumps in percentages that women went from just in those few years. Especially the percentage of women actually enlisting in the military rose
The Impact WW2 had on Women
During WW2 the presence of men at home was to a bare minimum. The impact this had on women was felt throughout the nation. How women would be looked at would be changed forever. They had to uphold various positions that were usually held by men and reevaluate their roles as homemakers. Their lives at home had changed; they were no longer the primary care giver. They also joined different parts of the military. Due to men being away at war during WW2 women were forced to participate in the workforce, which would change their view of their position in society.
With life hard on women already holding the home together while their husbands were in the war, they were forced to fill the spots that were usually held by men. Being in the workforce and doing jobs they would have never imagined doing such as: working in the factories, in transportation, and in government. These would have never been offered to women if there were men available. To get these women interested in getting involved, the “government teamed up with industry, the media, and woman’s organizations in an effort to urge them to join the labor force: their agenda: telling women it was their “patriotic duty” to go to work.” While doing these non-traditional jobs they still did jobs traditionally performed by women such as: sales and clerical, nursing, and teaching. “Nearly a million women were hired by the federal government and women's share of federal jobs increased from 18.8 per cent in 1940 to 37.5 per cent in 1945. Many women earned higher incomes than ever before, yet their wages were still not comparable to male pay. Women increasingly joined labor unions; the proportion of union members that were women raised from 9.4 per cent in 1940 to 21.8 per cent in 1944 .This shows just a few jumps in percentages that women went from just in those few years. Especially the percentage of women actually enlisting in the military rose
References: http://www.womenshistory.about.com/od/warwwii/a/women_at_home.htm http://www.tngenweb.org/Campbell/hist-bogan/WW2Women.html http://search.proquest.com/docview/202811191?accountid=35812 http://www.history.com/topics/American-women-in-world-war-ii http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/prs-tpic/females/wave-ww2.htm http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/WAC/WAC.HTM http://www.npr.org/2010/03/09/123773525/femal-wwii-pilots-the-original-fly-girls