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Role of women in wwi
Industrial revolution and its impact on warfare
Role of women in wwi
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World War One was a time of great flourish in terms of technology, chemical, economic and political warfare. The Triple Entente: Britain, France, Russia and the Triple Alliance; German, Austria-Hungary, Italy experienced the harmful and positive impacts that this change instigated. Warfare falls under several categories, but two, technological and strategical, were the majoring factors during the war as they ultimately controlled the war’s outcome. The technological and strategical changes harmfully impacted not only soldiers’ but civilians’ lives, as well, in the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance through their health and overall lifestyle, despite the destructive outcomes of these factors, new positions and opportunities arose for women …show more content…
Two types of warfare, technological and strategical were used simultaneously during the battle and while one was improving and thriving, the other was based off older ideas and in turn caused devastating impacts. The First World War saw an increase in the amount of dangerous technology that became available for fighting soldiers. Weapons such as; machine guns, flamethrowers, artillery, poison gas and aircraft were developed and used for the first time during the war. The increased number of deadly weapons was caused by the ability to mass produce due to the Industrial Revolution period that took place during the 18th and 19th century. Mass production could possibly be argued that it was the deadliest weapon of the war, allowing both sides to produce more weapons in a shorter period of time leading to a shocking number of deaths. Machine guns were used, based off an older design in 1884(HistoryNet, 2014) and they allowed defenders to cut down enemies as they approached the trench lines. As rifles and machine guns became common weapons, the death toll spiked, as well as the demand for workers in the ammunition …show more content…
This was one of the positive impacts the war influenced, and soon women rose into higher situated positions. In 1916, one woman described her training at an Arsenal in London. “At first, she thought it ‘a frightful waste of time’ but soon found, ‘I can quite keen on the day’s work’” (Mylearning.org, 2016) From this quote, it is evident that this movement was beneficial for the war and for women’s overall life quality. It allowed them to work and step outside the normal social structures, allowing them to feel a purpose other than caring for the children. There were still harmful impacts nevertheless, that cost woman and others that were working in the factories their lives. Due to the lack of safety precautions and women were still expected to wear long flowy dresses that caught into the machinery, accidents were common. Many lost limbs, were burned in explosions or lost their lives and this had a harmful impact on their health and their families’ health. Without the constant income, family members would starve or possibly lose their home. Workers constantly were handling dangerous chemicals which caused health problems that outlasted the war. For example, TNT turned thousands of workers’ skins yellow. The mental health of the workers was also ignored as productivity was all that mattered. In order to keep up with the demand from the front line,
There were many technological developments in WWl. Machine guns were invented to help soldiers kill many people at the same time. Machine guns could fire
In 1943, most women worked as teachers, nurses, or done some sort of domestic labor. Their opportunities were nowhere near as vast as the men’s. This caused the women to feel left out or unequal. Women fought for more equal opportunities as well as equal treatment. This along with their sense of patriotism is what led them to work in these factories. They wanted to be viewed as equal counterparts and have the same opportunities as men during this time. Not as many opportunities were open to the women so they jumped at the chance to widen them when the idea of working in the factories came up. This also paired with their sense of patriotism, making their determination to work stronger. The women knew the men were off fighting for their freedom so this would give them a chance to contribute to the cause as well as help war production. This challenged the views of the workplace as well as the beliefs of where women belonged in the workplace. Numerous men...
When we think of weapons that the soldiers used in War World I we think of them as defense. But what is sort of ironic is that the same weapons the soldiers used to protect them selves were the same weapons that killed them. "The development of poison gases took on a new urgency during 1914-18." (http://www.firstworldwar.com/weaponry/index.htm) Poison gas was a lethal or incapacitating gas used as a weapon in warfare. It was used extremely between the years of 1914-1918 in order to torture enemies during war. Another major weapon used during the war was the machine gun. "The machine gun was a fairly primitive device when general war began in August 1914." (http://www.firstworldwar.com/weaponry/index.htm) The machine gun is an automatic weapon that fires rapidly and repeatedly without requiring separate squeezes on the trigger each time. This weapon was one of the most affective weapons and murdered the most enemies. These weapons were similar to the weapons that Remarque described in the novel All Quiet on the Western Front.
“There was much more to women’s work during World War Two than make, do, and mend. Women built tanks, worked with rescue teams, and operated behind enemy lines” (Carol Harris). Have you ever thought that women could have such an important role during a war? In 1939 to 1945 for many women, World War II brought not only sacrifices, but also a new style of life including more jobs, opportunities and the development of new skills. They were considered as America’s “secret weapon” by the government. Women allowed getting over every challenge that was imposed by a devastating war. It is necessary to recognize that women during this period brought a legacy that produced major changes in social norms and work in America.
...owards more love stories. Essentially more forms of propaganda ensued to let women know what they should be doing. More domestic jobs became available such as being a maid, restaurant work, dishwashing and cleaning. However women who worked war jobs wanted their own maids now so they could pursue their own dreams. They felt inspired and accomplished. Lola Wiexl mentioned that although skills within the workforce were easily learned, within the household traditions still persisted. Lola herself said she'd go home cook, clean and do the laundry while her brother laid on the couch. She didn't question it before but she was angry about it for years after her war time experience. Thus patriarchal hegemonies still existed after the war and were perpetuated by the government and media as much as possible to solicit women who participated in activities outside of the home.
.... The wages of women started to go up. The armed forces started to employ women as drivers, cooks, storekeepers, clerks, telephone operators and administration. It was soon recognised women were more than competent in a range of tasks, including the management of farms and businesses.
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...
War is often followed by change; World War I is no exception. World War I is often labeled the cause for the rise of a feminine revolution-“the flapper”. Before the term “flapper” began to describe the “young independently-minded woman of the early Twenties” (Mowry 173), the definition that is most prominent today, it had a 300-year long history. The young woman of the 1920’s was new and rebellious. In her appearance and demeanor, she broke the social constructs of her society.
Male workers found a new competition for their jobs as women upheld them during the war. Some men even went on strike to force women off the job, while officials in New York informed twenty women judges that "they had simply been hired as temporary wartime help." One of the more positive ideas of the war was the flourishing wealth to the American economy. Factory output grew more than thirty-three percent from 1914 to 1918. Because many men were off at war, the civilian workforce grew. Over 1 million people joined the work force from 1916 to 1918, mostly made up of women and blacks.
Many factories became short-handed and had to hire women to cover the jobs. The factories were very dangerous and unhealthy, and the women were only getting paid half the wages of men. The women were not unionized because the Labor Union said that they had to hire many women to replace one man and that the skilled tasks were broken in to several less skilled tasks. They had no protection, so their lungs and skin were exposed to dangerous chemicals. Many women worked in munitions factories, where they worked with sulphur.
One weapon or machine was created, and an even better one was made. New developments such as machine guns, poison gas, tanks, and new strategies to thwart trench warfare affected how WWI was fought and it came with catastrophic results. Poison gas is perhaps the most feared weapon out of all. Created to overcome the long stalemate style of trench warfare, its purpose was to draw out soldiers hiding in the trenches. One side would throw the poison gas into the enemy trenches and they would either wait for their enemy to come out into open fire or perish in the trenches.
European countries channeled all of their resources into total war which resulted in enormous social change. The result of working together for a common goal seemed to be unifying European societies. Death knocked down all barriers between people. All belligerents had enacted some form of a selective service which levelled classes in many ways. Wartime scarcities made luxury an impossibility and unfavorable. Reflecting this, clothing became uniform and utilitarian. Europeans would never again dress in fancy, elaborate costumes. Uniforms led the way in clothing change. The bright blue-and-red prewar French infantry uniforms had been changed after the first few months of the war, since they made whoever wore them into excellent targets for machine guns. Women's skirts rose above the ankle permanently and women became more of a part of society than ever. They undertook a variety of jobs previously held by men. They were now a part of clerical, secretarial work, and te! aching. They were also more widely employed in industrial jobs. By 1918, 37.6 percent of the work force in the Krupp armaments firm in Germany was female. In England the proportion of women works rose strikingly in public transport (for example, from 18,000 to 117,000 bus conductors), banking (9,500 to 63,700), and commerce (505,000 to 934,000). Many restrictions on women disappeared during the war. It became acceptable for young, employed, single middle-class women to have their own apartments, to go out without chaperones, and to smoke in public. It was only a matter of time before women received the right to vote in many belligerent countries. Strong forces were shaping the power and legal status of labor unions, too. The right of workers to organize was relatively new, about half a century. Employers fought to keep union organizers out of their plants and armed force was often used against striking workers. The universal rallying of workers towards their flag at the beginning of the war led to wider acceptance of unions.
In the 1940s, the careers of women and men were altered when World War II was at its peak, during the time between 1940 and 1945 the year the war ended, American factories and shipyards produced around 300,000 military planes, 86,000 tanks, 8.5 million guns and carbines, 3 million machine guns, 72,000 naval ships, 4,900 merchant ships which would carry important and needed supplies, and 14 million tons of explosives and ammunition for the war (the 1940s, 23). Before the United States had joined the war, many companies had already formed contracts with the government about being able to produce military equipment for the war. World War II had a big effect on not just women's but men’s careers as well, therefore it is important to know the history behind how it affected the careers of the 1940s, and to know how it changed the careers of men as well women.
World War I is known as a war that occurred on extremely cruel terms; there were not many restrictions on what and when certain weapons could be used. Unfortunately, the Industrial Age brought with it many new ways to kill; the soldiers of World War I came in contact with many new weapons that they had never seen in combat.
World War 1 was a time filled with trauma, despair, and hardships. Women had limited freedoms such as being able to vote, being confined at home, and having less than half of the rights men were able to have.