Women in the World Wars

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Rosie the Riveter: "We Can Do It!" - Many women first found economic strength in World War II-era manufacturing jobs.

Women played an important role in World War I and World War II, and this had long lasting after effects.

There is little doubt that women's work in the two World Wars of the twentieth century was an important factor in the course of both wars. This involvement changed the social status and working lives of women in many countries from that point onwards.

Women's role prior to World War I

Prior to the First World War women's role in society in western countries was generally confined to the domestic sphere (but not necessarily their own home) and to certain types of jobs: 'Women's Work'.

In Great Britain for example, just before World War I, out of an adult population of about 24 million women, some 1.7 million worked in domestic service, 0.8 million worked in the Textile manufacturing industry, 0.6 million worked in the clothing trades, 0.5 million worked in commerce and 0.26 million in local and national government (including teaching). The British textile and clothing trades, in particular, employed far more women than men and could be regarded as 'women's work'.

While some women managed to receive a tertiary education and others to go into non-traditional career paths, for the most part women were expected to be primarily involved in 'home duties' and 'women's work'. Before 1914, only few countries had given the vote to women, and women were little involved in the political process.

Effects of World Wars

During both World War I and World War II, women were called on, by necessity, to do work and to take on roles that were outside their traditional gender expectations. In Great Britain this was known as a process of 'Dilution' and was strongly contested by the Trade Unions, particularly in the engineering and ship building trades. Women did, for the duration of both World Wars, take on jobs that were traditionally regarded as skilled 'men's' work; however, as negotiated with the Trade Unions, they all lost their jobs at the end of the First World War.

More than any previous wars WWI and WWII hinged as much on industrial production as they did on battlefield clashes. With millions of men away fighting and with the inevitable horrendous casualties, there was a severe shortage of labour in a range of industries, from rural and farm work to city office jobs.

World War I

Women moved into the labour force to fill this need. During World War I, for example, thousands of women worked in munitions factories, offices and large hangers used to build aircraft. Of course women were also involved in knitting socks and preparing hampers for the soldiers on the front, as well as other voluntary work, but as a matter of survival women had to work for paid employment for the sake of their families. Nursing became the one and only area of female contribution that involved being at the front and experiencing the horror of war.

Not only did they have to keep ‘the home fires burning’ but they took on voluntary and paid employment that was diverse in scope and showed that women were highly capable in diverse fields of endeavor. There is little doubt that this expanded view of the role of women in society did change the outlook of what women could do and their place in the workforce. However the extent of this change is open to historical debate. In addition, the role of women tended to differ in scope and importance between World War I and World War II.

Female suffrage

In part because of female participation in the war effort in the years after the First World War, Canada, the United States, Great Britain, and a number of European countries extended suffrage to women. It seems that the turbulence and the despair of World War I had caused a reexamination of many of the treasured values in many western societies, including gender expectations. The so-called Jazz Age of the 1920s saw women 'letting their hair down' and leaving the confines of the home to experience greater independence. With the advent of the Great Depression women became pivotal not only to providing for their families but for providing cheap labour for industry.

In Russia the role of women in the Russian Revolution combined with the equality doctrines of communism also saw women given far more rights than they had had before the War.

World War II

With this expanded horizon of opportunity and confidence, and with the extended skill base that many women could now give to paid and voluntary employment, women's roles in World War II were even more extensive than in the First World War. So, women not only worked in factories, munitions plants and farms but also drove trucks, provided logistic support for soldiers and entered professional areas of work that were previously the preserve of men.

This necessity to use the skills and the time of women was heightened by the nature of the war itself. While World War 1 was mainly fought in France and Germany and was a war arguably without clear aggressor or villain, World War 2 was truly a global conflict where countries were invaded or under the threat of invasion from leaders in Germany (Adolf Hitler) and Japan that had ambitions of world domination. In these circumstances the absolute urgency of mobilizing the entire population made the expansion of the role of women inevitable. The hard skilled labour of women was symbolized in the United States by the figure of Rosie the Riveter.

The contribution by women to the war effort in the United Kingdom was acknowledged with the use of the words "Home Front" to describe the battles that were being fought on a domestic level with rationing, recycling, and war work, such as in munitions factories.

The sheer desperation of the conflict, especially in the Soviet Union saw many women in fighting roles, notably as snipers. In the Allied powers thousands of women enlisted as nurses serving on the front lines throughout the conflict. Thousands of others joined defensive militias at home.

Much like in United Kingdom, the Finnish women took part in defence; nursing, air raid signaling, rationing and hospitalization of the wounded. This Finnish organisation was called Lotta Svärd, where voluntary women took part in auxiliary work of the armed forces to help those fighting on front. Lotta Svärd was among, if not, largest voluntary group during war. Though they never held guns (a rule among the Lottas), without womens help Finland probably couldn't have held off the Soviet forces that long.

External link

Railwaywomen in Wartime British women's work on the railways in both world wars - photos and text - free information.

WWII US women's service organizations — History and uniforms in color (WAAC/WAC, WAVES, ANC, NNC, USMCWR, PHS, SPARS, ARC and WASP)