Before World War I, women had few rights. But their experience in the Great War changed that forever. Their views towards life changed or improved, and by the middle of the 19th century, women were demanding equality with men. They wanted the right to vote in elections and an equal chance to work and get educated. They also wanted the right to have their own possessions, to divorce their husbands, and to keep their children after divorce.
They wanted equality for women in the workplace, in society generally and at home. “After discovering that they could work in high-paying factory jobs, the majority of women did not want to give these jobs up after World War II.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Womenroles_in_the_WorldWarsUnitedStatesofAmerica
Once the war-ended women got laid off from their jobs as men took them back. The postwar culture embraced a contradiction between the tensions of domestic ideals and individual success. This was hard for women because during World War II expectations were raised of what life could be like. Women believed it was possible to imagine these duel roles to experience economic dependence; however this ends
New industries, naval, and army bases were being built during the home front. Women played a huge role in this because if they didn’t stay home and take over for the men, they wouldn’t have the money to raise their families. “Only one in nine of the 45,000 women who signed up were selected for duty overseas” (Suite101) so a large percentage of women stayed back home. The National Selective Service controlled the women and men. They would only make the decisions for them “who could join up and who could not, where they could work, and when they could change jobs.” (Thecanadianencyclopedia) It was a tough life, but it was the only way to support their husbands when their off to war.
One of the reasons that women over 30 got the vote in 1918 was because of the Women's Suffrage campaigns that had been going on as far back as 1850. Women were originally thought of as delicate little things that did as men said and enjoyed doing the housework and looking after the children. These were the women's jobs and men didn't think they could do much
Coming from all walks of life, there were those already working who switched to higher-paying defense jobs, those who had lost their jobs due to the Depression, and then there were the women who worked at home. Rosie the Riveter was the idol for these working women also she was known as the cover girl for the recruiting campaign. By 1944, 16 percent of all working women held jobs in war industries. While an estimated 18 million women worked during the war, there was growing concern among them that when the war was over, it would never be the same again. That new venture for American women would soon come to an end.
Although the status of women did not decline the brutal and evil ways of their husbands made life unbearable. Women still lost their job rights, were having their feet binded, and the religion was still Confucian. From the beginning of the Tang dynasty all the way down to the Song dynasty there was a major decline in the status of women; especially in religion, customs, and jobs. In the beginning, women had plenty of rights because the Buddhist belief system allowed women to have many rights but once the Song dynasty came in all that changed when the rulers changed the religion to a Confucian based system. Also, women were able to obtain high jobs such as an empress but toward the end of the Song dynasty few women had jobs because of their lack of education.
Women were expected to marry, have children and financially they were expected to be fully dependent on their husbands. Women rarely had careers and most professions refused entry to women. However, between the years 1850 and 1901 women’s role in society began to be challenged. There were a number of reasons for this,
No Lady-Like Lady is Lady Brett Ashley The 1920’s, post-World War I, brought about many changes in the lives of people from the way women dressed, to the rights they were given, to the start of women in the workforce. Women began dressing less-modestly, cutting their hair, and partaking in the usage of tobacco- things that were deemed as extremely inappropriate for a woman at the start of this time. Although these “new women” gained much more independence, the goal of the majority of these was still to marry- usually only working until the marriage began (Benner). Whether married or not, Margaret Sanger felt that women should be able to make decisions about their own body, more specifically their reproductive organs, before equality of gender
From the beginning, wifehood and motherhood have been regarded as a women’s profession. They were not seen as breadwinners or professionals. As history has told us, women were considered the weaker sex, doing jobs such as laundry, milking cows, and taking care of children, leaving the “heavier” labor to the big strong men (wic.org). With technological advancement today, physiological test suggest women have a greater pain tolerance and statistics show that women live longer and are more resistant to many diseases. In the 20th century, women in most nations won the right to vote, this in return increased their educational and job opportunities.