Women During Ww2 Dbq Essay

Many women during WWII experienced things that they had never done before. Before the war began women were supposed to be “perfect”. The house always had to be clean, dinner ready on the table, laundry done, and have themselves as well as their children ready for every event of the day. Once the war began and men were drafted, women had to take on the men’s role as well as their own. Women now fixed cars, worked in factories, played baseball, handled the finances, and so forth. So, what challenges and opportunities did women face on the home front during WWII? Women had many opportunities like playing baseball and working, they also faced many hardships, such as not having enough food, money, and clothing. During WWII people had to ration their food so that there was enough for everyone to eat. “It was tight at times. You had to stop and think of what you were going to buy, and buy things that were going to stretch, maybe spaghetti, macaroni and mix it up with something else. I’d say in the summer months we were fortunate that we had fresh produce” (Doc. F). It made things worse that there were labor and transportation shortages and made it hard to harvest fruits and vegetables as well as transport them to various markets. The government

Although women had the opportunity to work, many of them had children that needed to be taken care of while they worked. Some mothers relied on family members and friends to take care of their children, while others had to place their children in childcare centers. While young children were being taken care of, children who were old enough went to school. “Bay Area schoolchildren were enthusiastically enlisted into wartime activities, such as collecting scrap and buying Victory Stamps, but they were also identified as particularly vulnerable victims of wartime social changes” (Doc. B). Children could help out with the war effort whether they were at home or at