Some women worked so long in the factories that they had to move closer to the factory. They got paid well, however men doing the same work as skilled women got paid more. That was not fair for the women. They struggled with discrimination, harassment, and physical pain from long hours and poor working conditions. Once the war was over and the men came home, the women had to give up their jobs and these hard-working women did not want to leave their jobs.
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.
As time went on working women included not only single white women it also included married woman. However, immigrants mostly were employed in low paying factory jobs and black women were mostly confined to domestic jobs and picking cotton (734). The white middle class women were able to find better office type jobs and some were even able to be lawyers, doctors and journalists. Feminism was a new term entering the vocabulary of many during the progressive era. Feminism had a slightly different meaning to many at the time but the general consensus was women needed, wanted and deserved “freedom”.
Women were once only seen in homes cleaning and cooking and the era of Rosie was the first step in women’s rights. Though at the end of the war men returned to their old factory jobs forcing women out of their maculating jobs, they showed women as a whole that they could do the same thing men could. While women did not end up reentering the work force until the 1970’s they were not in such high demand at this time either
Did the women in the factories work there out of a sense of patriotism, or because they lacked other opportunities? The social class tension caused by the “real work” as teachers slowly faded away. They quickly realized that teaching was not their real jobs anymore. Towards the end of summer they encourage women line workers who have not
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.
To what extent did women’s lives change 1850-1901? Women’s lives may not have changed a great deal between the years 1850 and 1901 but the changes that did occur did have an impact on women’s lives. Though there may have been some much bigger changes that came after this time period, it was the changes that happened in these years that kick started the change for women politically and socially. In 1850 women’s roles within society were extremely restricted and they had very limited opportunities. Women were expected to marry, have children and financially they were expected to be fully dependent on their husbands.
Running head: Women’s Struggle for Equality HIS204 December 09, 2013 Women’s Struggle for Equality Suffrage for women was a cause that began over seventy years before the nation saw fit to give women the right to vote, and it's one of those complicated stories you get in history that make the process even more interesting and dramatic. Doesn't seem like that would be so difficult, does it? The origins of Women's Suffrage in the United States are entwined with the anti-slavery movement. Scholars believe that anti-slavery activity was acceptable political activity for women who weren't allowed to take part in traditional politics, and that created a situation in which some women began to wonder why there couldn't be more.
As the men fought abroad, women on the Home Front worked in defense plants and volunteered for war-related organizations, in addition to managing their households. In New Orleans, as the demand for public transportation grew, women even became streetcar “conductorettes” for the first time. When men left, women “became proficient cooks and housekeepers, managed the finances, learned to fix the car, worked in a defense plant, and wrote letters to their soldier husbands that were consistently upbeat.” (Stephen Ambrose, D-Day, 488) Rosie the Riveter helped assure that the Allies would have the war materials they needed to defeat the Axis. Nearly 350,000 American women served in uniform, both at home and abroad, volunteering for the newly formed Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACs, later renamed the Women’s Army Corps), the Navy Women’s Reserve (WAVES), the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve, the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve (SPARS), the Women Airforce Service
In the early 19th century before the outbreak of World War 1, very few women were granted with the opportunity of having a working career. The working women had low profile jobs and mostly worked as domestic servants. Many of the women that worked were young and single and this was seen as an advantage as it meant that they were most suitable for these types of jobs which would provide them with skills and experience that would be beneficial to them in their future lives (house wives). The middle class women worked in factories and were mostly unmarried. They worked in textile mills and sweated trades (hat and dress making).