"I think a lot of women said, Screw that noise. 'Cause they had a taste of freedom, they had a taste of making their own money, a taste of spending their own money, making their own decisions. I think the beginning of the women's movement had its seeds right there in World War Two." - Dellie Hahne, nurse's aid for the Red Cross during the war
What's Next?
After the War, many women remained in the workforce but employers forced them back into lower-paying female jobs. Most women were laid off and told to go back to their homes. During World War II there was a change in the image of women, but it was only superficial and temporary. The reality was that most women returned to being homemakers during the prosperity of the 1950s. However, the road taken by women in the work force during World War II continued into the future. Society had changed. The daughters and granddaughters of Rosies continued on the road made by their mothers and grandmothers.
Attitudes Changing
When women started working at traditionally male jobs the biggest problem was changing men's attitudes. Male employees and male-controlled unions were suspicious of women. Companies saw women’s needs and desires on the job as secondary to men’s. In addition, employers denied women positions of power excluding them from the decision-making process of the company. Women wanted to be treated like the male workers and not given special consideration just because they were women. As time went on and more and more women entered the work force, the attitudes towards women workers changed.
Significance of Women during World War ll
First Wave of Feminism- Beginning in the 1800's and ending near the 1900's
- Main focus of this movement were officially mandated inequalities - Reforms in education, in the workplace and professions, and in healthcare were a huge victory for feminists in the nineteenth century - Some of the feminists were: Mary Wollstonecraft, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Olympia Brown, and Helen Pitts |
Second Wave of Feminism- Beginning in the 1960's and ending near the 1800's
- Broadened the debate to a wide range of issues: sexuality, family, the workplace, reproductive rights, and official legal inequalities -encouraged women to understand aspects of their personal lives and deeply politicized, and reflective of a sexists structure of power. The key word of this wave was education, of women and of men. |
"NOW"
The National Organization for Women was established by a small group of feminists who were dedicated to challenging sex discrimination in all areas of American society but particularly in employment. The organization is composed of both men and women, and in the late 20th century it had some 250,000 members. After the war, women realized that they were being treated unfairly and tried everything to get equal rights.
Feminism is a movement which has been incredibly important to the success and failures of this country and has been a necessary journey for the women in our country to travel upon so that they can discover and create their own unique place in society.