World War 1 played a significant part in developing women's political rights in both positive and negative ways. World War one may have foiled the drive by women to gain political rights just as much or even more so then it helped. Pre war women did have working opportunities though very little compared to men, as they were seen as weaker and that their place was in the "home". Their employment was limited to the domestic service (cleaning or working as a servant) and secretarial work and not manual labor in factories or working class women often worked in the textiles industry. Women were lower paid and were restricted to do less skilled work, as they were considered incompetent.
Feminist views of the family revolve around and understanding of the term patriarchy, which means make domination. Feminists agree that men tend to have a superior position in society and that women suffer oppression because of this. Many feminists argue that the family is a corner stone of this oppression and as such needs careful analysis. Liberal feminists believe that the fanily is gradually becoming less oppressive for women, they cite the move of many families towards more symmetrical roles where men take more part in the domestic roles so that women are no longer burdened by the mundane, repetitive, low status work of cleaning, laundry and childcare work which makes their position in society less powerful than mens. However, radical feminists disagree.
They see the rise in the symmetrical family as a result of major social changes in the past century; changes in women position, including married women going out to work, geographical mobility, more couples living away from the communities in which they grew up. Additionally, Gershuny found that wives who worked full time did less domestic work and that the longer the wife had been in pain work, the more housework her husband was likely to do. However, the most important thing is that the roles of the husband and wife, although not identical, are more similar now then they
A wider range of jobs became available to them, they gained more independence and weren’t viewed as second citizens but most importantly, World War One lead to women in Britain gaining the vote. Before the First World War, The majority of women stayed at home and their priorities were looking after the family and the house. Women were seen as the property of their husband. The variety of women’s jobs was very narrow and most women had never had a proper job in their lives. During the war, asso many men were involved in fighting, countless women had a job whether it was working in a munition factory, driving an ambulance or working for the transport of London.
The women’s trend being a primary breadwinner is increasing because the larger number of women are earning higher degrees and entering the workforce (Claire). Sarah Jane Glynn, an analyst with the Center for American Progress, told the Washington Post that the recent recession accelerated the trend. “Part of what’s happening is that more men have been getting laid off and are having difficulty finding work…And with the way the recovery’s played out, some men who lost their jobs wound up taking others that paid less,” she noted (Claire). With the rise of working women, it is beneficial for the family as they are contributing more income towards the family. In today’s economy, when the cost of everything is going very high, it is very hard to raise the kids and run the family.
Finally the men didn’t think much of women for doing things that they could. Most men married women for their inheritance, childbirth, appearance, housekeeping and were expected to be married by their families. I think the suffragists campaigns were important but not as important as what happened during WW1. Source one shows Joyce’s opinion so it’s not a solid fact so it might not be reliable as she could be bias to the suffragists. But I believe that the suffragists did help women win the vote by showing they can do it in a calm and peaceful way.
Sadly, it seems that the women in Pakistan honestly believe that they are below the men in their country because they continue to allow this behavior to continue, without revolutionizing like the women in many other countries, including the US, once did. On the other hand, women in the United States are taught to love and respect themselves. Opposing Pakistan costumes, a woman that has a positive outlook on herself is found to be more appealing and attractive to the male population than a woman who is constantly putting herself down. Because the women in America today are taught by their parents and other members of society that they are valuable members of humanity from the day they are brought into the world, the vast majority of them would never let the male population control the direction of their
Many middle class women were unhappy about this, and after the freedoms and empowerment of women during Weimar they did not like the new constrictions – it seemed almost like a step back for them. However, financial incentives were given to women to stay home and have children, and awards were granted depending on how many children a woman had – the more children, the higher ranking the award. They were told that it was their responsibility to provide soldiers for the future. As a result of this, many more women became mothers than might have down normally. Married couples were encouraged to divorce if their partner was infertile and many women joined Nazi women’s organisations.
Now, in the 20th century, women have a multitude of opportunities when compared to women back then. It is now considered normal for a woman to have a job alongside her husband. Women now have a choice of whether they want to stay home with their children and take care of the household or if they would rather go out and work. Women can be just as successful as a man in these times. Also, women are achieving the same professions as a man whereas before the 20th century, that was nearly impossible.
However, sociologists would not all agree that this is the primary reason for the trends. Feminists would argue that changes in the position of women, for example improvements in their economic situation have had a large impact. Now, 70% of women are in paid work, compared to 49% in 1965. Subsequently, women are less likely to be financially dependent on their husbands and thus freer to end an unhappy marriage. Feminists also argue that women work triple-shifts within households, leading to conflict and leading to more divorces.