The past century has done much to bring women’s rights and equality to new highs in the Western world, from granting women the vote, to increased economic, and personal freedoms. World War One can be held in part responsible for this expansion of horizons for women that would then continue on for the remainder of the 20th century. However, issues women faced during that time still continue to impact women today.
World War one was not only a time of great change on the battlefield, the circumstances of the war also vastly changed life on the home front for women. During the 19th century, women were treated as nothing more than someone to bear children and keep house (“Feminism in the 19th Century: Women’s Rights, Roles, and Limits - Video & …show more content…
However, many of the issues that plagued women during the 20th century and earlier continued to be detrimental to women of the 21st century. For example, during the 19th and 20th century if a woman had engaged in sexual intercourse, even against her will, she was seen as “fallen” and often blamed for the man’s crime, which resulted in being ostracized by society (“A Feminist Redefinition of Rape and Sexual Assault: Historical Foundations and Change”). The man, however, is not convicted or faces little to no repercussions. A comparison can be drawn to our own society, where women who have been raped are often considered to have “asked for it”, either by their choice of dress or nonverbal actions. In addition, a study done in Canada reported that out of 460,000 women who reported being raped only 1,519 of the perpetrators were convicted (“Stop the Victim-Blaming”). Furthermore, in Canada, prior to 1929, women weren’t considered “persons” under the law (historyandwomen.com). Similarly, in our own society advertising and other forms of media often depict women as sex objects or dehumanize them (“Contribution of Media to the Normalization and Perpetuation of Domestic Violence”). Moreover, during WW1 when women began to fill for jobs men had left behind for the war, they were not given equal pay. Employers evaded paying their female workers in a number of ways. For example, they would employ several women to replace one man, divide a complex task into several simplistic stages. This allowed women to be employed at a lower wage and not said to be ‘replacing’ a man directly (“History - British history in depth: Women on the home front in world war One.”). In our own society, the wage gap between men and women is still an ongoing issue. For instance, a study done in 2015 in Canada concluded
World War one was not only a time of great change on the battlefield, the circumstances of the war also vastly changed life on the home front for women. During the 19th century, women were treated as nothing more than someone to bear children and keep house (“Feminism in the 19th Century: Women’s Rights, Roles, and Limits - Video & …show more content…
However, many of the issues that plagued women during the 20th century and earlier continued to be detrimental to women of the 21st century. For example, during the 19th and 20th century if a woman had engaged in sexual intercourse, even against her will, she was seen as “fallen” and often blamed for the man’s crime, which resulted in being ostracized by society (“A Feminist Redefinition of Rape and Sexual Assault: Historical Foundations and Change”). The man, however, is not convicted or faces little to no repercussions. A comparison can be drawn to our own society, where women who have been raped are often considered to have “asked for it”, either by their choice of dress or nonverbal actions. In addition, a study done in Canada reported that out of 460,000 women who reported being raped only 1,519 of the perpetrators were convicted (“Stop the Victim-Blaming”). Furthermore, in Canada, prior to 1929, women weren’t considered “persons” under the law (historyandwomen.com). Similarly, in our own society advertising and other forms of media often depict women as sex objects or dehumanize them (“Contribution of Media to the Normalization and Perpetuation of Domestic Violence”). Moreover, during WW1 when women began to fill for jobs men had left behind for the war, they were not given equal pay. Employers evaded paying their female workers in a number of ways. For example, they would employ several women to replace one man, divide a complex task into several simplistic stages. This allowed women to be employed at a lower wage and not said to be ‘replacing’ a man directly (“History - British history in depth: Women on the home front in world war One.”). In our own society, the wage gap between men and women is still an ongoing issue. For instance, a study done in 2015 in Canada concluded