Women's Role During World War 11

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Women’s Role During World War II

During World War II, thousands of women in various nations were deeply involved in volunteer work alongside men. Before World War II, the women’s role was simply to be a wife to her husband, a mother to her children, and a caretaker to the house (Barrow). As World War II raged on, women made enormous sacrifices for their family, and also learnt new jobs and new skills. Women were needed to fill many “male jobs”, while men went off to fight in the war. Women served with distinction in The Soviet Union, Britain, Japan, United States, and Germany and were urged to join armed forces, work in factories, hospitals, and also farms to support the soldiers fighting the war. During this time, women took on the dual responsibility of managing the home and fighting actively in the battlefield.

Soviet Union

The women of Soviet Union had shown great heroism during the years of World War II. Soviet law gave Soviet women access to participate actively in every sphere of the states’ duties and recognized them as full and equal citizens of the country. Large numbers of Soviet women took the places of men in traditionally masculine jobs. They skillfully performed the jobs that had long been viewed as the exclusive domain of men
(Clayton). There were well-qualified women drivers, mechanics, farmers, and factory workers. During World War II, Soviet Union was the first country to allow women to fly combat missions (Clayton). They were able to return fire and even drop bombs on enemy territory. As leading combatants, they flew dangerous missions, and helped fight to defend places like Belarus, Ukraine and other republics of the Soviet Union.

Young Soviet women not only played an important role in combat, but als...

... middle of paper ...

...her steel mills.

Works Cited

"American Women in World War II." History.com. A&E Television Networks,
n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.
Barrow, Mandy. "Women during World War 2 (WW2)." Women during World
War 2 (WW2). N.p., 2013. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2014.
Clayton, Chris. "The Soviet Woman — a Full and Equal Citizen of Her Country." The
Soviet Woman – a Full and Equal Citizen of Her Country. N.p., 2006. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.
"Japanese Women and the Japanese War Effort." GHN: IEEE Global History
Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2014.
Nazemroaya, Mahdi Darius. "Global Research." Global Research. N.p., 8 Mar.
2014. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
"The Role of Women in Nazi Germany." The Role of Women in Nazi Germany. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
"1941 Women Take Over Factory Work during World War II." Massachusetts AFL-
CIO. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.

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