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.
Women went back to working at home and jobs were taken over by men again. They say that World War One did very little to change the position of women in Britain. The truth is that World War One did change the lives of women but the extent was limited and their role in society was never the same as it had been before 1914. It is important to remember that if it wasn’t for their protest and demonstration before, women’s rights wouldn’t have been on the agenda of the government and change would have taken much longer. With so many young men enlisted in the army, the role women played was crucial, not only to the war
Women were relegated to house and family duties such as cleaning, cooking and taking care of the kids. The working opportunities for women in the nineteen-century were very limited. Employers regularly paid less to women; about one-half to two-thirds of what a man was paid for doing the same kind of job. Working was frowned for a woman because it meant that her husband could not support the family or that she could not get one job. For this reason the only women that were able to work were the ones that were the poor women or the members of the lower class in society.
“Wifehood and motherhood were regarded as women’s most significant professions” (“WIC”). Over the years women have earned a bigger keep in their family lives, and now there are not many women that do not work outside of the home. As the years have progressed, women have become more active in the workforce, although there have been many obstacles to try and keep them out. “Sex discrimination in employment was legal in the United States until passage of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964” (“Employment”). Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 helped women out a lot concerning wages and titles in their careers.
Essay on the changing role of women as a consequence of WW1 Before 1914 Many women stopped at home and worked by doing the washing, sewing, and looking after their families, which were the normal activities of a housewife. Before WW1 just over half of all single women and one in seven married women worked outside the home to make money. The men were the breadwinners of the family, and were basically the boss; this was the way the hierarchy in the family was before 1914. Women in paid work weren’t treated the same as the male workers. There was a lot of sexist employers as most of them thought a ‘women’s place’ was in the home.
There was a massive disruption of the industries in which women were mostly employed, such as dress-making and textiles. This, in the end, was actually a benefit. As war work became available, such as munitions factories, many of those women could now work in a higher paid job as well as do their part in the war effort. Women in the domestic services even left their jobs in order to work for higher paid jobs2. The first world war gave women more opportunity in the workplace as more occupations were open to them and the war also
Children were an economic responsibility for women - providing food, housing and clothing until the child was independent and could go out to work to provide for the family themselves. Most working class women worked, as this was an obligation, but this work contrasted hugely to that of their male counterparts, occupying roles of lower skill and less pay. Edward Cadbury in 1909 said that marriage was ‘an escape from work’ Trint, S. History Learning Site 2010-2011. Women’s Rights. www.historylearningsite.co.uk [accessed 07122011].
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.
Almost all jobs men did before they left to fight in the war were now a women’s job. All these jobs were a drastic change from their usual routine of cooking, cleaning and being “baby makers”, though women still got paid less than half of what men were getting paid doing these jobs. Women all across Canada started to realize that there might be something more for them in their future. Since women were doing so much for the war effort, they wanted a share in making decisions about their country. This is when women first began to work for political equality with men.
Without the changing role of women, things that we have in everyday life as American’s could possibly not exist. Women not only were more help to the family, but they were helping rebuild the nation. As a whole, women helped clean up the process of urbanization and immigration, helped literature grow, and helped change the ongoing problem of women’s suffrage. After the Civil War, many people from other countries started immigrating to America. As a result, urbanization quickly started going out of control due to lack of communication, too many people being forced into slums, and many other reasons.