The Women’s Armed Services Integration Act was a law passed by President Harry S. Truman, allowing women to join the army. Before the act was passed, only men were permitted to be in combat, while women in the army worked in clinical positions. When World War II began, despite women not being allowed to join the “regular” army, the Women’s Army Corps was created and granted full army status during wartime. The growth in the number of women in the corps, along with the fact that they performed equally to the army, were two of the main factors for the law to be created and passed. The WAC was set to be expired in 1948, but the act was passed in the same years which meant that women would continue to be allowed to fight in the army.
Women in the Second World War participated in the war effort by joining the women’s uniformed services. The Canadian women’s Army Corps was approved on the 13th August 1941 to enlist thousands of women in support roles for the military forces.¹ The CWAC, Canadian Women’s Army Corps largely operated in Canada, as a corps within the active militia of Canada, but by 1944, they were assigned to clerical and support duties in war regions. Several thousands were sent to support Canadian forces in Britain, Italy and northeast Europe. The CWAC made up to 2.8% of the total Canadian Army in 1945.² The CWAC is recognized as great contribution that women played in the success of the Allied victory in World War II.
During World War II, Woman’s were assembled for duty in the Canadian Armed Forces, for the first time. The armed force was shy of men in war services and administration, which lead the Canadian government to choose and declare on August 13, 1941 to give woman’s the privilege to take an interest in war utility. 50,000 women were enlisted and more than half provided service in the Canadian Army. Most were doled out occupations including customary female work, for example, cooking, clothing and administrative obligations, also woman had pioneer roles in the mechanized and specialized fields. The Canadian Women 's Army Corps (CWAC) performed fundamental administrations, both at home and abroad, that achieved Allied victory.
She opened up doors for programs such as the WICS, WAAC, WAC, as well as the passing of laws that permitted women to be integrated in the regular army or integrated in any branch in the military. These programs have also allowed for women to be able to serve in any branch
When looking into the action, there are many positions to it, there is not just 1 role that everybody takes. Roles such as soldier, medic, transporter all impacted this war so much, then many women's coming to join the force of the war, CGC articles wrote “They went as volunteers, so that meant that they would not be paid. They wanted to help out the troops the best they could, if they could not be in combat. Women had seen work in WWII as nurses, communications operators, and even service pilots. In the Vietnam War era, Women could become a part of the WAVEs (Navy), WASPs (Air Force), or WACs (Army)”
However, many women wanted to be more involved in the war effort then by just taking up odd jobs, they wanted to enlist and give their services to the United States Armed Forces. American women's
What opportunities did World War II present for Asian-Americans, Indians, Mexican-Americans and African-Americans Due to the tremendousness and worldwide nature of WW II, minorities were included in various ways. As specified, ladies entered the work power following the men were in uniform. Maybe the best illustration of the commitment of Native Americans were the code talkers.
Women joined war service organizations such as the YWCA and the Red
The need for medical personnel was extraordinary, and many women stepped forward to serve their country. Women who served as nurses during World War II faced significant challenges, including working long hours in difficult and dangerous conditions, often in war zones and under enemy fire (Bellafaire). Women's role in nursing during World War Two was crucial and substantially impacted the outcome of the war. With many men fighting on the front lines, women stepped up to fill the gap in the healthcare industry, including nursing. Women took on new responsibilities during the war, including serving as military nurses, civilian volunteers, and working in the Red Cross.
After the start of WWI, changing the role of women became a huge favorable change for the society. In the December of 1941, Britain put into place the second National service act, and therefore, Britain became the first nation to conscript women in the world and it gave them a part in the conflict in the making of history (hubpages). They had organizations such as the FANY-First Aid Nursing Yeomanry,- and VAD-society of female volunteers which was part of the effort toward war. New jobs opened up for women through ads in newspapers, which included tram drivers, postal workers, police patrols, chemical manufacturers, munition workers, typists, and many more. Counter argument: Some might argue that the roles of women did not change much due to
In the book written by (Gavin, 1997) it was cited that “As women took over from their absent men in hundreds of new and challenging occupations, many of which had previously been considered inappropriate”. From the beginning of the World War 1, the German women were participating a great deal. They contributed to half a million-people working on the munitions manufacturing alone (Gavin, 1997). It also mentioned in the book that over in the U.S, the men in charge refused to let the women participate up until April 1917 (Gavin, 1997). The U.S government never formally authorize the enrolment of women, despite Army officials repeatedly asking for such personnel’s.
Sources A,E,F and B all corroborate on the fact that women joined voluntary organisations to help the soldiers at war. "Help the war effort by joining voluntary organisations including, Australian Red Cross, the Country Women 's Association, the Women 's Christian Temperance Union, the Australian
Women participated in the military services, got the education to work in skilled labour so that they did much better than before and received popular recognition step by step because of their own hard work. “You learn a lot from living in with a group of girls; we were all much enriched by the experience. Better people for it. You were not just yourself, you behaved, became party of something much bigger than yourself.” Sheila McClemans in Patsy Adam-Smith Australian Women at war said.
But, they overcame the men 's hostility, and made not just them, but most of the world realize that creating the WAC was a good decision and a huge help. The biggest impact that the women had was when they helped diminish the shortage of men at the beginning. Women contributed to the war effort, and served in the Army, which allowed it to be more successful. In addition to this, WACs helped give additional resources that were needed in the Army, such as working in many different jobs. WACs assisted the Army to achieve great accomplishments, and although many people were not very fond of them at first, they began to realize they needed them.
American Women during World War 2 had many responsibilities at war, work, and home. But they did not have many equal rights compared to the rest of the society. The women’s rights and responsibilities topic is very interesting. One is understanding and knowing the history about the responsibilities women had to do and how hard working they were. This topic is very important because there was a big change in women’s rights and responsibilities during World War 2.