Throughout the course of World War II, advancements developed in various areas, including fields like technology, medicine and gender equity. Although the outcome of the war was devastating and proved to cause mass destruction, it also helped shape the world, especially the United States, in an abundance of ways. It was a time when people were stepping up and taking on more responsibilities, patriotism flowed throughout the veins of Americans. Men volunteered to serve in combat and women volunteered to serve in as many ways deemed possible. These brave women served in the Army and Navy Nurse Corps, Women's Army Corps (WAC), Army Air Forces, the Navy's Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES), in the Marine Corps Women's Reserve,
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Women's participation in the US Forces during World War II is considered a major turning point in the relationship of women to the military and the way people and the government viewed women as a whole. Women's place was meant to be in the house, or domestic jobs. Americans more readily accepted female nurses because it reflected expectations that women were natural caregivers. The Army reflected this changing attitude in June 1944 when it granted its nurses officers' commissions and full retirement privileges, dependents' allowances, and equal pay. Moreover, the government provided free education to nursing students between 1943 and 1948. Precedent also helped to secure the public’s approval of women serving in this capacity; both the Army nurse corps and Navy nurse corps had both existed since the early 20th century, with more than twenty thousand military nurses serving during the First World War, half of them in overseas duty. Over 59,000 American nurses served in the Army Nurse Corps during World War II. The initial response to the idea of enlisting women was met with vast resistance. As the war escalated and the national pool of qualified male draftees dwindled, it became clear that for every woman recruited, one less man had to be
Women's participation in the US Forces during World War II is considered a major turning point in the relationship of women to the military and the way people and the government viewed women as a whole. Women's place was meant to be in the house, or domestic jobs. Americans more readily accepted female nurses because it reflected expectations that women were natural caregivers. The Army reflected this changing attitude in June 1944 when it granted its nurses officers' commissions and full retirement privileges, dependents' allowances, and equal pay. Moreover, the government provided free education to nursing students between 1943 and 1948. Precedent also helped to secure the public’s approval of women serving in this capacity; both the Army nurse corps and Navy nurse corps had both existed since the early 20th century, with more than twenty thousand military nurses serving during the First World War, half of them in overseas duty. Over 59,000 American nurses served in the Army Nurse Corps during World War II. The initial response to the idea of enlisting women was met with vast resistance. As the war escalated and the national pool of qualified male draftees dwindled, it became clear that for every woman recruited, one less man had to be