HOW DID WOMEN PLAY A PART IN WORLD WAR 2?
While studying World War II, maybe students wonder the question, "How did women play a part in World War 2" Lets investigate this question!
The three websites I used for my research:
1. Wikipedia
This is a credible website because, it is a .org (1), three hyperlinks open (2), and the site was modified recently (3).
2. History. com
This is a credible website because three hyperlinks work (1), there is a way to contact the museum (2), and it was published recently (3).
3. The National WW2 Museum
This is a credible website because, it is a .org (1), there is a way to contact the website (2), and three hyperlinks open (3).
What I Found!
How did women play a part in World War 2?
Website #1 tells us that women had a bigger part in World War 2 than World War 1. More than two million women helped with the war efforts. Women worked "in the war industries, building ships, aircraft, vehicles, and weaponry" (Website 1). Many women in the Allied countries, became nurses in the front lines. A lot of women lost their lives being nurses. Women were used to being homemakers, but when the men left to fight in the war, they had to take over the jobs men did. "Women took on responsibility of both managing the home and became the heroines of the home front" (Website 1) During World War 2, there was a lot of propaganda. Propaganda was used to get women motivated to help with war efforts. A popular propaganda sign is Rosie the Riveter. Another attempt to get women into the labor force "was in one short film, My Father’s Daughter. In this propaganda film a wealthy factory owner’s daughter begs to do her part in the war, but her father carries the stereotypical belief that women are meant to be caretakers and are incapable of such heavy work" (Website 1). Even though we only see men on the battlefields, women were a huge part of World War 2.
Website #2 tells us that "Between 1940 and 1945, the female percentage of the U.S. workforce increased from 27 percent to nearly 37 percent, and by 1945 nearly one out of every four married women worked outside the home" (Website 2). In addition to women working in factories, some women joined the Armed Services, and they served at home and abroad. Women were such a big part of World War 2 that "in May 1942, Congress instituted the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps, later upgraded to the Women’s Army Corps, which had full military status" (Website 2). In WAC, there was 200 non-combatant jobs stateside and in every theater of the war. One of the lesser-know jobs women had was"the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs. These women, each of whom had already obtained their pilot’s license prior to service, became the first women to fly American military aircraft" (Website 2). These women fly planes from factories to bases, and they transported cargo. Some of them lost their lives doing this.
Website #3 tells us that, not only did women give their sons, husbands, fathers, and brothers to the war effort, they also gave a lot of their time, energy and sometimes even their life. America used all their assets, including women, but the Axis powers did not. The third website tells us that "Hitler derided Americans as degenerate for putting their women to work. The role of German women, he said, was to be good wives and mothers and to have more babies for the Third Reich." (Website 3). Women during World War 2 worked in defense plants and volunteered for war-related organizations, in addition to managing their households. Women took the jobs of men, so the men could go fight. Some jobs that women did were, "driving trucks, repairing airplanes, working as laboratory technicians, rigging parachutes, serving as radio operators, analyzing photographs, flying military aircraft across the country, test-flying newly repaired planes, and even training anti-aircraft artillery gunners by acting as flying target" (Website 3). Many women loved serving their county, and they were very helpful to the men. After the war "a majority of women surveyed reported wanted to keep their jobs, many were forced out by men returning home and by the downturn in demand for war materials" (Website 3).