Gender Roles During WWII

Traditionally, women were always an integral part and permanent parts of many movements and settlements. In early America, the status quo was for women to stay at home and take care of their children, while men worked outside to support the family. Women tended to center their lives around farm and family. Most of the labor involved men such as planting and harvesting the crops while women worked inside the house, transforming raw products into usable commodities. When World War II (WWII) broke out, the United States entered things changed for women as their roles changed tremendously. The emergence of WWII brought changes to the gender roles. A variety of new jobs were created and women started to participate in the work force and the armed …show more content…
The reason for that is that “Eleanor Roosevelt and other women had campaigned for a regular military organization for women” (US, p. 551). Women then started to serve in the military in non-combat roles. They volunteered to join the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC), later known as the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) and the Navy’s Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES). Their participation in the US Armed Forces during WWII was a major turning point in the relationship of women to the military. The initial response to the idea of enlisting women met enormous resistance. As the war escalated and the number of qualified men draftees dwindled, it became clear that for every women recruited, one less man had to be …show more content…
There was a drastic shift in the normative gender roles, as before the war; women were largely restricted to the private domain and jobs were only reserved for men. The need for workers during and after the WWII started a discourse that continues until present day. Women made this possible through entering the labor force, serving in the military and many more. Women were recruited out of necessity during the 1940s; it was not only acceptable, but also encouraged them to leave their homes to play a much more important role in the economy for the country. Between 1940 and 1945, the female labor force made up more than one third of the US civilian labor. After the war, many women lost their jobs to returning veterans. Some women remained, though they were generally displaced from the higher paying jobs. All in all, women showed great courage, persistence, and dedication by changing the social norms and that made them respectable by