In World War II the role of women changed drastically in Australian society as a result of Australia’s war effort and when the men went off to war leaving all their jobs vacant. Roles, opportunities and responsibilities expanded to WW2. Any women who took a job was somehow taking it from a man; but as the war developed this argument could no longer stand. Women could do the technical jobs normally completed by men, freeing those men for combat (Ergo, 2017). In the women’s lives before WW2 all the women did was clean houses and take care of their family, during the war they took up jobs that the men left behind, after the war they went back to their previous lives (Ergo, 2017). But however the war changed the perspectives on the women no matter …show more content…
They made uniforms, weapons, ammunition, they built trucks and tanks too. Women also stepped into agricultural jobs; ploughing and harvesting (Prezi, 2014). Some women worked overseas, they worked on observation posts, anti-aircraft gunners, drivers, mechanics and radio operators (Ergo, 2014). In WW2 nursing was dangerous, many nurses were stationed in Singapore, which was a base for the Allied forces in the Pacific (Ergo, 2014). In 1942, 65 nurses were evacuated aboard the ship “Vyner Brooke”. It was bombed and sunk by the Japanese, 12 drowned, 22 were captured then killed by machine fire and the other 31 got away (Ergo, 2014) Along-side the war, women managed children and family responsibilities alone, shortages of resources (Australian Government, 2017). 300’000 women left the textile and clothing industries. 147’000 women went into transport services; 220’000 went into chemicals, 480’000 performed clerical tasks. No less than 2 million went into factories making planes, tanks, bayonets, bullets and bombs. (Tames, 1997) Job vacancies increased dramatically, women even began fighting in the war along-side men as organisations opened. Women were able to work independently and became free of their responsibilities they were born to have as decided by their community. The maths adds up to out of the 1 million Australian’s who served in the war, 7 per-cent of them were women (Prezi, 2015). By 1939, many young girls found employment in domestic services and between wars in 1928 a law was passed which stated that any person over the age of 21 could vote; male and female. So during the War many different opinions were developed, the main achievement was that women helped the war effort by putting in their blood, sweat and
As World War II developed more and more Australian men were conscripted by the British Empire to join the war and therefore tens-of-thousands of men left Australia, leaving their wives and children behind. On the home front, women dealt with the consequences of war in an extreme manner which consisted of managing children and family accountabilities alone, shortages of resources, as well as their concerns for the future, and the grief of losing loved ones. Although this was a distressing and challenging time for the women population within Australia it also enabled them to access ‘a man’s world’ and be successful within the economical workspace, which was previously not accessible to them prior to the war. 'Rosie the Riveter ' was a
To face this threat all Australian, ‘men, women and children, were urged to put their backs into the war effort,’ (Ww2australia.gov.au, 2014). One of the biggest changes women had to undergo was their new role in working industries, which had previously been male-dominate areas. School children tried to help as much as they could, collecting anything that could be recycled to use for the war effort, such as newspaper and old tires. It wasn’t long until the Australian government stepping, putting in various controls, such as the National Security Act. This act enabled the Australian Government to take over and control nearly everything.
During the war, Australia adopted a period of censorship, preventing information falling onto the enemy’s hands but also depriving citizens of news. In World War II, women were actively recruited into jobs that had always been for men. At home women had to deal with: loss of loved ones, managing children, family’s responsibilities alone and shortages of resources. Women were scene to have skills that could contribute to the war effort, for example Rationing and shortages meant that
The women of the early 20th century showed that they have the ability to be productive in the work place and fight for the greater good of the United States of America. In modern times women have started joining combat roles in the military and increasing in demographical size in the military. This has shown that women are striving to be more equal to men in all aspects of modern life. By showing they can fight in wars and hold their own against our nations enemies they can and will be seen as equals. The public celebration of women’s history in the United States began in 1978.
In 1939, no one thought that women, who weren 't even considered people decades before, would have such a massive impact in the Second World War. Canadian women 's contribution to the war effort, and their role at the home front and overseas had greatly increased since the previous, devastating First World War. The Second World War brought change to Canadian women on an unpredictable scale, though their volunteer work, paid labour force, and their contributions in the armed forces. Surely without the contributions made by the Canadian women, Canada and her allies would not have been as successful as they were. By far, the prime contribution made by Canadian women to the war effort came through their unpaid labour as volunteer work.
The Effect of Women on the Outcome of World War Two World War II effected women tremendously by taking them out of their comfort zones and chucking them into the work force and pushing them to do most of the work men normally would have been doing. The war also effected women by providing opportunities for them to serve in non-traditional roles; in fact, some of them enlisted into the military to serve the United States. The way the war effected women is that they had to take care of family in addition to performing work normally done by men. It was difficult to find people to watch after kids which made life during this time very difficult. After the end of World War II society in general was effected considering the baby boom.
The war had major effects on a lot of different things. One of the biggest changes that happened after the war had started would have to be the opportunities presented to the women and African American communities. Both of these groups were not given the same opportunities before the war. After the war started they got the change that they were looking for, but continued to face limitations. Women have always played an important role in the way of life.
Women were well suited for providing nourishment and necessities for the army due to their skills obtained by their accustomed housework. “...the American army often recruited the many female camp followers to fill these jobs” (Brooks 2013, para. 17). They had slowly began to achieve recognition in society, especially war. It was then, that woman had begun to silently “protest” on having the same equal opportunity as men. During the war, women created a role for themselves to side amongst the male soldiers: a secret soldier.
Women also faced, “severe shortages of food, clothing, and other goods, while inflation raised the price of everything they had to buy. Spare parts for farm equipment were hard to find,” (Senker). That never stopped these strong females. Without them, the community life during the war would have been in ruins. The whole town would have suffered if females didn’t step up when their male partners left for war.
Women were taken out of nurturing roles such as teaching, nursing etc. to fill the jobs that traditionally only men would fill. The rise in working Australian women meant that after the war, the womens’ rights that were in place at the time were questioned, therefore showing the Australian population that women could do what men could do just as
Although these jobs created a sense of independence for women, as men came back they were quickly shifted back into their pre-war roles, more than 3 million women had to leave their wartime jobs. In short, there was a domestic change in women’s roles within society because Women had to shift from their traditional home roles to new wartime
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.
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.
Before WWI, women were restricted to traditionally feminine jobs. Their work was considered inferior and they were paid less than men. However, once WWI began, women were able to integrate themselves into a variety of different workforces. Since most men were off to serve in the military and navy, women that stayed behind replaced their positions in factories and other industries. Other women worked closely with the military as nurses or even soldiers.