This is when women first began to work for political equality with men. They pushed for equal opportunities involving their careers, working conditions and wages, and the right to own property. A breakthrough came in 1916 when Robert Borden granted the sisters, wives, and daughters of soldiers the right to vote. Nurses serving in the forces were also added to that list. Unfortunately, after the war ended many women were pushed to the side, as the female factory workers, ambulance drivers, and nurses
Ife Otukoya Period 5 Women in the Civil War: Positive or Negative A lot of historians would say that the Civil War took a negative toll on the country, but I say that it was positive. I say it’s positive because first, slaves were allowed to vote, and women’s rights were extended. They were able to take on the jobs and responsibilities once thought to be a man’s. In the present day women are out numbering men in the nursing profession. Before the civil war it was mostly men who were nurses, but since a lot of them went to war, the ladies took on the job.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Abigail Adams reminded her husband to not forget the women in the constitution which is significant because it was the beginning of women’s rights. Women also became more involved and interested in politics, to the distaste of most men. Many women followed their soldiers while at war and took care of the men. There were some women who acted in radical ways (ex. the New York City fire, riots, and letters), which hadn’t previously been so.
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
Is feminism still relevant in the modern world? In the early 20th century the suffragettes played a huge part in gaining votes for women. World War One also played a large part the feminist movement as women who had previously been deemed incapable of much more than looking after children and husbands were now required to help in other areas such as the work force as part of the war effort. After World War One women were not content to revert back to their pre-war status. World War Two required women in the munitions factories and as land girls which due to the shortage of men gave, women a definite place in the working environment, and the argument of women being incapable was now of no consequence.
Men would have not been able to go to war in the woman had not been there to take their posts. Women worked in factories building and manufacturing many munitions and weapons for the Canadian fighting forces. They would make supplies for the war effort such as ammunitions, aircraft, ships, submarines, clothes and weapons (World War Two). Without these war supplies being produced by the women, the men would not have had any weapons or tools to fight and be victorious in the war. Many women also worked in aircraft factories fixing damage warplanes.