December 7th, 1941 started as an ordinary day for many Americans, but they did not know what heartbreak was ahead of them. Women would be left without their husbands, and the United States would be left in destruction and emotional ruin. They would soon be thrust into a World War once again, when Japan staged a surprise attack on American installations in the Pacific. The devastating strike came at Pearl Harbor, and the event dramatically altered every American’s life. On December 8, 1941 Roosevelt declared war against Japan and preparations began to happen. As propaganda and patriotism influenced men to join the war, husbands, brothers, and fathers soon left home to go overseas. Women and children on the home front were left to keep the
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However, in the first months of the war women wanted to enlist, but were turned away. Later in the war as the Soviet Union’s army was beginning to fall they needed reinforcement and Joseph Stalin was willing to change the traditional role of women. Universal training schools were set up, women began to learn how to handle rifles and fight; some received top score in marksmanship. Women were beginning to fight on the frontlines, but only in few battles. Although they were not fighting in all battles this was a huge step for woman’s equality. In Britain, training schools were for not yet built for women to be practice combat but, in the spring of 1941, every woman in Britain aged eighteen to sixty were required to be registered, and their family occupations were reordered. Each were interviewed and required to choose from a range of jobs to help with the war. It was not emphasized for women to bear arms in Britain but, many were eventually to bear arms and die under fire. Secretary Francis Perkins said in her monthly labor review as factories converted from “lingerie to camouflage netting; from baby carriages to field hospital carts; from lipstick cases to bomb fuses;…from ribbons and silk goods to parachutes; from beer cans to hand grenade; from vacuum cleaners to gas-mask parts” women—called “production soldiers”—joined in the conversion. Francis Perkins perfectly captured what was happening all across the world during World War Two, and shows how women were participating in the
However, in the first months of the war women wanted to enlist, but were turned away. Later in the war as the Soviet Union’s army was beginning to fall they needed reinforcement and Joseph Stalin was willing to change the traditional role of women. Universal training schools were set up, women began to learn how to handle rifles and fight; some received top score in marksmanship. Women were beginning to fight on the frontlines, but only in few battles. Although they were not fighting in all battles this was a huge step for woman’s equality. In Britain, training schools were for not yet built for women to be practice combat but, in the spring of 1941, every woman in Britain aged eighteen to sixty were required to be registered, and their family occupations were reordered. Each were interviewed and required to choose from a range of jobs to help with the war. It was not emphasized for women to bear arms in Britain but, many were eventually to bear arms and die under fire. Secretary Francis Perkins said in her monthly labor review as factories converted from “lingerie to camouflage netting; from baby carriages to field hospital carts; from lipstick cases to bomb fuses;…from ribbons and silk goods to parachutes; from beer cans to hand grenade; from vacuum cleaners to gas-mask parts” women—called “production soldiers”—joined in the conversion. Francis Perkins perfectly captured what was happening all across the world during World War Two, and shows how women were participating in the