Job Opportunities for Women During World War Ii

Prior to World War II, many women were unemployed, due to the Great Depression which had started a decade before. With men always getting preference for jobs, there were very few jobs left for women. Consequently, not only were many occupations were reserved for men, but men were also paid wages up to five times higher for the same task as women. Some states also barred married women from holding jobs. However during World War II, America produced at an efficiency which was higher than ever. This meant that the women had an increasing number of jobs. Jobs in the public sector opened up. Since 1939, women progressively changed the idea of patriarchy and the cliché thinking of an average woman in the United States to be a wife and mother.

At the start of World War II the American people had a sense of unity. Men chose to leave their jobs and families to join the front line, while women, for the first time, were leaving the home and taking over those jobs that their husbands left behind. In 1943, many magazines chose to paint a picture of women hard at work. These articles focused their stories on working women, and glamorized the untraditional jobs they held. They thought perhaps, that if they made these smaller, hard working jobs exciting, and noble, that more women would begin to join the work force. For this reason, the media created a fake working woman named Rosie the Riveter, and she was illustrated as a hero for American women. These efforts to pull

In World War II, women contributed in many ways by entering the battle. Some of the jobs the women held were Army nurses, Red Cross members, factory work, etc. The United States were one of the few countries that put their women to work and was ridiculed for it. In 1948, President Truman signed the Women 's Armed Services Integration Act which authorized regular and reserve status for women in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. These women showed true leadership by becoming leaders in battle and left a lasting legacy for all women to come.

Following World War II, the overall percentage of women in the workforce fell to 28 percent, with women choosing to either, stay at home and raise their families, or they were laid off so that the positions were open to the returning veterans. The dominant attitude was that women needed to return to their homes and raise their children, but the seed had been planted in women’s minds that there was a possibility of paid employment outside of the home. Those women that worked during the war opened the door, allowing the following generations of women to enter the industrial workforce and become

There was a time in the United States when women were told they could do anything a man was capable of, and they did. During World War II men were fighting in battlefronts and women were joining the “Rosie the Riveter” movement that had a huge impact on the ideal of women. Today many historians state that America’s war material production wasn’t going to be enough to fight World War II if Propaganda campaigns wooing women were not made, in fact over 6 million women took part to the industrial miracle of America from 1942 to 1945. To help the expansion of America’s labor force, government and industries promoted job opportunities with posters or cartoons. World War II posters helped to mobilize a nation. Inexpensive, accessible, and ever-present

Rose the Riveter is an icon that came out in the world war time. Back then women were entering the workforce in abundance of numbers during World War II. Women became the people to work when a wide spread of enlistments left holes in the industrial labor force. “Rosie the Riveter,” became the star in the 1940 and 1945 when the female percentage increased ten percent from twenty seven percent to nearly thirty seven percent. Also in 1945 almost every four women worked outside their homes. Rosie became the governments campaign aimed for the recruitment of women in the work place. Women worked in positions that use to be a male dominate work place. The women increased in female workers each year as needed. In 1943 women nearly more than

Many people have never considered what women were doing in WWII when their husbands left to fight. Their lives weren’t easy or normal during the war. Women had to work just as hard as men, sometimes even more so. In this essay, I will discuss the position of American women before World War II, during the war, and at the end of the war.

During World War II, the roles of women have forever been changed. Young men and women decided to marry just before their sweethearts went overseas to fight for their country. As the men fought abroad, we began to see women on the Home Front encouraged to be more independent and finding jobs of their own. These females in the United States stepped up to the plate and began working jobs that many men had before. Women stepped up and began working in factories, participating in organizations in regards to the war, all while still running things smoothly at home. While the men were away for battle, 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.

Before World War II, women were the ones customarily responsible for taking care of their houses and children. Typically, they were not allowed to pursue their dreams of having a career in the field of their choosing. It wasn’t until the start of World War II that women were allowed to venture outside of their homes and housekeeping tasks to explore a whole new world of opportunities created by wartime efforts. Women were needed to fill the voids left by the departure of the 690,000,000 men from 61 countries that were headed to war. With American men enlisting in the war effort, the work force quickly diminished allowing women to fill positions . The factory gates welcomed a flood of women willing to work and serve their country. Mothers, daughters, wives and even schoolgirls picked up the duties the men had left behind. Government sources continued to recruit women throughout the war, with articles and advertisements placed in magazines to get women 's attention. Slogans such as, “Women, you would hasten victory by working and save your man,". The Magazine War Guide recommended that all published magazines participate in the”Women at Work” cover promotion to emphasize not only defense and factory work, but all kinds of employment opportunities for women. One of the many slogans shouted, "The more women at work, the sooner we win." (American Women and the U.S. Armed Forces). The

World War II was influence by many powerful and evil men like Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin they were all men who were ambitious for power and did whatever it took to gain the power and achieve their goal. They all had a major influence in the way that this war started to develop. A war that impacted the world in the 1900s in which leaders from Germany, Italy and the soviet Union are well remembered but what about the women? What influence did they have in this war? They were many women who stayed home and were major contributors to holding together the labor force. As well their volunteering in society helped push their country through the War. By temporarily assuming non-traditional roles in the labor force and in society, women became an important part of the war effort from 1939-1945. (3)

Throughout history women have been burdened to be nothing more than domestic individuals. Their roles were to fulfill their household duties as wives and mothers. Many restrictions applied to their womanhood and not being able to work was one of them. However, the roles of women changed during World War II. As men were being recruited to fight in the war the openings for jobs were in high demand. During this time many women began to commence in the workforce altering the role of women, particularly those of the Mexican-American communities. Minority groups were often discriminated especially Mexican- Americans, not only were they discriminated but were also seen as criminals and were a temporary implement during the war. Mexican- Americans had to overcome obstacles that were put in their way and fight for what they deserved.

Throughout American history, women have contributed greatly to the war effort and military support of our troops. It began as early as the Revolutionary War when women followed their husbands to war out of necessity. Many served in military camps as laundresses, cooks, and nurses but only with permission from the commanding officers and only if they proved they were helpful (“Timeline: Women in the U.S. Military”).

In what specific ways did the Second World War change the lives of women in Canada and/or the United States? Were the changes merely temporary or did they sow the seeds of collapse for traditional gender roles?

During World War II, women in the United States were seeing societal transitions that created a pathway for equality between the sexes. Women during the Second World War were given considerable opportunities in the workforce and armed services and restrictions previously set on women were breaking at the seams. Before World War II, women were seen as only house wives and mothers to their partners child. These societal roles for women also oppressed them and only at this time could men be the bread winners and the ones to fight for their country. Women were restricted from combat and from many occupations, and if the woman was pregnant or with children she would be restricted from holding a job period. Effortlessly men could apply for work anywhere and could be drafted into the US Armed Forces, just because they were men. Eventually a major turning point occurred during the war and the relationship between women and the United States military. During the Second World War women were nurses on the frontlines, women also enlisted as Yeomen (F), and women were finally allowed to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces. Womens societal roles changed during World War II and gave way to the beginning of gender equality in the workforce and the armed forces to fight for our country.

Despite the different time periods, there are several similarities in how both World War I and World War II impacted women in the workplace. At the start of each war, millions of young men left their jobs, homes, and families to serve their country in the war, leaving thousands of employment positions needing to be filled. However, employers did not immediately turn to women to fill those roles. Not only were employers hesitant to hire them until it was absolutely necessary, but male workers did not quite know how to handle women as their new coworkers. According to Carrie Brown, “men disliked having their domain invaded by women. They didn’t know how to treat women in the workplace, and they didn’t want to learn” (127). Men accused women workers of stealing jobs from men, whose rightful place was in the workforce, and many even held the belief that women were lowering the wages earned. Despite these discriminations, employers did eventually hire women, and as a result, women had the opportunity to complete jobs that were normally done by men. Once women were able to overcome the