Some women “felt they were needed at home to raise families, crops for food and to fill the jobs that the men had vacated in order to serve their country.”(Suite101) Women’s lives on the home front during World War II were a significant part of the war effort for all participants and had a major impact on the outcome of the war. Once the men went off to war and left their jobs, the women that were single had a great advantage because job opportunities were everywhere. In the other hand married women had a tough time, especially if they had children. Hundreds of women worked in machine shops, welding shops, manufacturing plants, and also worked in war industries to make equipment for the war. New industries, naval, and army bases were being built during the home front.
The lives of women on the Home Front were greatly affected by World War I The lives of women were greatly affected by the war, mainly in a positive way in the long run. Before the war upper-class women did not work, in contrast working class women worked in professions such as maids or working in factories as a way to provide for their families. Statistics show that as many as 11% of women worked as domestic servants before the war. The war also helped the social status of women dramatically in a positive manner as well as giving women the chance to work in a greater variety of jobs, although after the war they were expected to return to their original traditional housewife role. When the war broke out in August 1914, thousands of women lost their jobs in dressmaking, millenary and jewellery making.
Military Sexual Trauma (MST) is sexual assault and repeated sexual harassment. On average, “...24% of women had suffered sexual assault after the military.” (www.salem-news.com) For instance, “Many [women] were gang-raped by their military “comrades”...”. Most of the time, when the women reported these attacks, nothing was done about it. The aftermath of the war was called for change. Women began wanting more rights, and nurses in the war were given those rights and were also rewarded for their services as well.
Before the war, women were treated equally in the workforce; they were paid equally and had equal job opportunities. Laura Bush made it seem like women were being oppressed saying, “Women cannot work outside the home…” and by grouping situations of the Middle East together false accusations were made. Riverbend blogs saying, “What I’m trying to say is that no matter *what* anyone heard, females in Iraq were a lot better off than females in other parts of the Arab world (and some parts of the western world-we had equal salaries!) We made up over 50% of the working force. We were doctors, lawyers, nurses, teachers, professors, deans, architects, programmers, and more” (August 2003, Riverbend, p.22).
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.
Zinaida Samsonova began the battle of Stalingad as a fearless nurse who put herself in harms-way to save soldier's livves. When the area she was working in came under heavy fire, she was a natural leader. After her bravery in helping to evacuate a whole hospital along with troops from the area; Samsonova was awarded the Gold Star, the title of “Hero of the Soviet Union”, and became the commanding officer of her regiment. (Cottam 16) However, Not all women around the world were treated with the respect that Samsonnova got. American Women were given much less of an opportunity for advancement, primarily because of the laws put in place to discourage women in the Military.
Women started that movement because they wanted to fight for their rights. They were intimidated, put down, and did not get much help from the people, but they still stood tall and did not give up to get their rights. Even though women are discriminated by men, they become an allied victory during Wolrd War 1. A big amount of women are being oppressed and are considered failures just because they are women. People that did not want women
During the war American women turned their attention to the world outside the home. Thousands of women in the North and South joined volunteer brigades and signed up to work as nurses. It was the first time in American history that women played a significant role in a war effort. (Women in the Civil War, 2013) All the men had gone off to fight the war which had left many responsibilities open to the women. More than 20,000 women served in the armed forces during the war, more than 5,000 of which were nurses stationed in France.
The Depression hit women, like other minority groups in American society, similarly harsh because of that payrolls of many communities and private companies were open only to males. The main role of women during the Great Depression was that of the homemaker. Some women had gone through college level education and, like their male counterparts, were having a difficult time of finding employment. Those with families had the task of keeping their family together, as the traditional view of motherhood role, when the principle moneymaker of the family was out of work. However, some women joined the work force and would do jobs that men previously had held.
War, in this day and age has evolved so far from that the fact is almost unfathomable. The brute strength of men if not the only skill needed to be successful in combat. And as the rights of women have expanded greatly in the last century or so, their roles in the U.S. military have evolved as well. Women and war have always been considered to have little in common. As the gentle sex, women are traditionally associated with caring and with creating life rather than with destroying it.