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Opportunities for women during World War 2
Opportunities for women during World War 2
Explain the role of women in ww2
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This essay will be focusing on women who worked during the world war two and their roles; also, it will focus on the different work clothes that females have worn for their different occupations over the years. One of the major subject matter in this essay will be the “Rosy the Riverter” poster that was created by various artist during the World War II and the artist this essay will look at is Dame Laura Knight. During the World War II, women's role were focused on one thing, taking over what used to be the roles of men. Although jobs such as nurses, teachers, textiles and so on were still classified as a “woman's job” the war provided them a gateway to work in munitions factories, earning the name Munitionettes. In these factories the women worked in all manner of production ranging from making ammunition to uniforms to aeroplanes. During the war there was rationing of clothes so it became harder to find material which bought on the problem of too little material. The women working in the factories stuck to their head scarves to keep their hair out of the way, the overalls were worn for the simple fact that it was easy, comfortable and quick to wear. Large handbags were carried to keep rationing books in, the axillary military workers kept to their strict uniform composed of a suit with colours in black, brown, grey and sometimes blue. Relating to my essay, this shows how women in the 40's/50's wore less clothes in order to do the work of men, showing their strength and how the fashion of work attires has changed. Comparing to today's popular outfit for women who work in the working class group, they wear pantsuits and heels, pencil skirts and blouses with a blazer, cooperate dresses. Although the style and colour and fittin... ... middle of paper ... ...raphy.html cited 8/12/13 http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/anna-airy#lightbox-object-101 9/12/13 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/evelyn-dunbar-1041 cited 9/12/13 http://www.womeninart.co.uk/blogs/news/8706005-evelyn-mary-dunbar-1906-1960 cited 9/12/13 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dunbar-a-land-girl-and-the-bail-bull-n05688 cited 9/12/13 BOOKS: Sue Malvern, 2004,Modern Art, Britain and the Great War, New Haven and London, Yale University Press Ian Chilvers & John Glaves-Smith, 1999, Oxford Dictionary Of Modern and Contemporary Art, United States, Oxford University Press Inc. Ruby Jennifer, 1994, People In Costumes: The 1950's and 1960's, London, B.T. Batsford. Baker Patricia, 1991, Fashions Of A Decade: The 1950's,. New York, Facts On File, Inc. Baker Patricia, 1992, Fasions Of A Decade: The 1940's, New York, Facts On File, Inc.
During the time of 1940-1945 a big whole opened up in the industrial labor force because of the men enlisting. World War II was a hard time for the United States and knowing that it would be hard on their work force, they realized they needed the woman to do their part and help in any way they can. Whether it is in the armed forces or at home the women showed they could help out. In the United States armed forces about 350,000 women served at home and abroad. The woman’s work force in the United States increased from 27 percent to nearly 37percent, and by 1945 nearly one out of every four married woman worked outside the home. This paper will show the way the United States got the woman into these positions was through propaganda from
Women who worked factory jobs during World War II, faced a lot of problems. In Slacks & Calluses, the author brings attention to this. The women were degraded. They had to put up with ridiculous dress codes. They were made pariahs by other women. Some were not even seen as women. Yet, through all of the adversity and ridicule, these women became stronger because of their struggles.
The film titled, “The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter”, looks at the roles of women during and after World War II within the U.S. The film interviews five women who had experienced the World War II effects in the U.S, two who were Caucasian and three who were African American. These five women, who were among the millions of women recruited into skilled male-oriented jobs during World War II, shared insight into how women were treated, viewed and mainly controlled. Along with the interviews are clips from U.S. government propaganda films, news reports from the media, March of Time films, and newspaper stories, all depicting how women are to take "the men’s" places to keep up with industrial production, while reassured that their duties were fulfilling the patriotic and feminine role. After the war the government and media had changed their message as women were to resume the role of the housewife, maid and mother to stay out of the way of returning soldiers. Thus the patriotic and feminine role was nothing but a mystified tactic the government used to maintain the American economic structure during the world war period. It is the contention of this paper to explore how several groups of women were treated as mindless individuals that could be controlled and disposed of through the government arranging social institutions, media manipulation and propaganda, and assumptions behind women’s tendencies which forced “Rosie the Riveter” to become a male dominated concept.
Sorensen, Aja, Rosie the Riveter: Women Working during World War II. Retrieved from http://www.nps.gov/pwro/collection/website/rosie.htm, (n.d.)
Women’s role in society changed quite a bit during WWI and throughout the 1920s. During the 1910s women were very short or liberty and equality, life was like an endless rulebook. Women were expected to behave modestly and wear long dresses. Long hair was obligatory, however it always had to be up. It was unacceptable for them to smoke and they were expected to always be accompanied by an older woman or a married woman when outing. Women were usually employed with jobs that were usually associated with their genders, such as servants, seamstresses, secretaries and nursing. However during the war, women started becoming employed in different types of jobs such as factory work, replacing the men who had gone to fight in the war in Europe. In the late 1910s The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) had been fighting for decades to get the vote for women. As women had contributed so much to the war effort, it was difficult to refuse their demands for political equality. As a result, the Nineteenth Amendment to the constitution became law in 19...
New fashions were surfacing in both men’s and women’s fashions. Men were wearing Bermuda pants, baggy pants that were cut off at the knee, while women were wearing capris, tight pants that cut off just below the knee. Men were wearing tailored jackets and making a slight move towards the casual dress of today’s workplace. Women were wearing natural shoulders as opposed to the heavily padded ones of the war years. Flat, neck-hugging collars replaced the mannish collars of the late 1940’s. Waists were tightly fitted and skirts were long (Melinkoff 46). The jeans of the time were often lined with plaid flanel and dungarees were worn to the most casual occasions. The sandals of the fifties were not much different than the sandals of today.
Koussoudji, Sherrie A. and Laura J. Dresser. “Working class Rosies: Women Industrial Workers During World War II” The Journal of Economic History 51.2 (June 1992): 431-446
When all the men were across the ocean fighting a war for world peace, the home front soon found itself in a shortage for workers. Before the war, women mostly depended on men for financial support. But with so many gone to battle, women had to go to work to support themselves. With patriotic spirit, women one by one stepped up to do a man's work with little pay, respect or recognition. Labor shortages provided a variety of jobs for women, who became street car conductors, railroad workers, and shipbuilders. Some women took over the farms, monitoring the crops and harvesting and taking care of livestock. Women, who had young children with nobody to help them, did what they could do to help too. They made such things for the soldiers overseas, such as flannel shirts, socks and scarves.
The two ideas of female gender roles and women’s rights collided throughout world war II. Due to the rising need of jobs being filled while men went to war was the basis of the new workforce for females. As time went on females rights evolved, and WWII was the basis of this progression. This is why World War II is considered a “milestone” in the womens workforce. Due to all of the changes in World War II women now have the ability to work in any profession they want, and have the same rights as men.
World War II affected the workforce of men and women in different ways, men were drafted to war while women took their place in factories and workyards. Patriotism influenced women into working while the men were at war. Once at work, women were convinced to go to work by the economic incentives, the women learned about the nonmaterial benefits that come with working such as learning new skills, contributing to the public good, and proving that women can do the jobs meant for men just as good as the men could do the work (1940s.org). Women in the 1940s were hesitant to join the workforce, that was until Norman Rockwell’s fictional character “Rosie the Riveter” inspired multiple women to join the workforce to help dedicate their services to the war. The creation of “Rosie the Riveter”lead to, many other images of “Rosie” to help bring forth volunteers for the
The war brought challenges, new jobs, new skills and lots of opportunities for women. Women were needed for jobs that were traditionally deemed for males only. According to Mathis (1994), government propaganda was responsible for much of the change in society’s acceptance of women in
Peacock, John. The Chronicle of Western Fashion: From Ancient times to the Present Day. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1991. Print.
This essay will be focusing on women who worked during the world war two and their roles in the community. Not only would it focus on their roles it will also look at the fashion of these women; what they wore to work during the war, after the war and what is being worn to work nowadays. The research on the fashion change relates to my work the most as i’ve tried to portray the changes in the fashion of these working class women, what it means and how it shows off women as a being. Even though most of the women that worked during the second world war were said to be in the middle-class range this essay will focus on the working-class females in the society. One of the major subject matter in this essay will be the “Rosie the Riveter” poster although created by various artist during the World War II, the meanings in each posters mirrored the next. Also this essay will reflect on some of the numerous female war artists that used women to portray strength, elegance and raw femininity.
Barnett, Peter. “The French Revolution in Art”. ArtId, January 7th 2009. Web. 5th May 2013.
Diarmuid Costello, Jonathan Vickery. Art: key contemporary thinkers. (UTSC library). Imprint Oxford: Berg, 2007. Print.