During World War II, women filled the same jobs as in World War I, but also a few new ones, due to the time, and progress in women's rights, that took place in between the wars. For example, women were even allowed to fight in World War II in special battalions. To me, that can be considered a point in history when they truly acquired the social status of women. Also, because the USA was much more involved in WWII than WWI, by the middle of WWII, it was said that 89% of all jobs were open and accessible to women, whereas at the beginning of the war, only 25% of all jobs were accessible to them.
Not only is this statistic interesting, but its circumstances are. Only when we, as a country, are faced with a common enemy (in WWII, Germany) do we allow gender equality in the workplace out of convenience. Later on, when international troubles are gone, and we're back to dealing with domestic issues, women are discouraged from working in factories. This says that total war really affects the home front to a point that all social norms are momentarily forgotten: total war can effectively change a nation.
Clearly, then, during WWII, great progress was made in terms of women's independence and rights in the workplace. This was spurred on by popular images such as that of Rosie the Riveter that encouraged - and normalized - women working in such places that were traditionally considered manly as factories.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI really like your analysis of how war affects social norms and the way a country acts. It is true that wars cause a lot of internal change, and a lot of the time, as in this case of women, this change is caused by the "unitedness" of a country. When everyone comes together to do whatever they can to help the war It is a little odd to thing about, but this situation also seems to be similar to the relations of the allied country during the war. During the war, they all put off political differences and joined together, forced to settle their differences after in the Cold War. For the internal U.S., after the war, the rights of men and women had to be settled as well.
ReplyDeleteYour figures (the percentages) really serve to strengthen the point you make in words that womens' positions during the World Wars changed greatly.
ReplyDeleteYour ending paragraph sums up the rest of your post compactly and effectively. Very nice job.
i agree with both comments
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post. You set it up very effectively by taking the cultural icon of Rosie the Riveter and contrasting the symbolism of it today with the reality of the times in which it was created. I thought you transitioned well into your point in the last two paragraphs, and I agree completely with your stance that total war changes a nation (though I would argue that changes to traditional roles are largely temporary).
ReplyDeleteNice job with this. I thought that you really clearly and concisely stated your point in the last two paragraphs. The statistics were an added bonus also and it really allowed me to compare the state of women's rights for the before and after of the war.
ReplyDelete