Common Roles of Women Before World War One
Homemaker carrying out the role of cooking.
Prior to World War 1, women had hardly any significance what so ever. It didn’t matter where they were on the social ladder or how wealthy they were, they were never considered equal to men. Women were pushed to the side and were given little to no responsibility. The main role they really carried out was being a homemaker*. Their job was to manage things at home. Being a homemaker consisted of carrying out several jobs. These jobs included looking after the children, cooking for the whole family, sewing clothes for everyone, washing, maintaining a yard and cleaning and caring for the whole house. Other roles which women did prior to WW1 included nursing, teaching, office work and if their family owned a small holding*, they would do agricultural work.
Women had no power at all. They couldn’t have any real jobs like the men. They couldn’t vote, and if married, they couldn’t own property or take custody of their own children without the permission of their husband. Instead of being judged by their skills and ability, women we treated like objects and judged by their looks. After 1880, some women were able to work in the textile industry; however, they were never allowed into the factories. The men never granted them any responsibility. Before WW1 they were never given any opportunity to prove themselves but that all started to change right before World War 1 when the women began to part from their traditional roles.
Women had no power at all. They couldn’t have any real jobs like the men. They couldn’t vote, and if married, they couldn’t own property or take custody of their own children without the permission of their husband. Instead of being judged by their skills and ability, women we treated like objects and judged by their looks. After 1880, some women were able to work in the textile industry; however, they were never allowed into the factories. The men never granted them any responsibility. Before WW1 they were never given any opportunity to prove themselves but that all started to change right before World War 1 when the women began to part from their traditional roles.
Common Roles of Women During World War One
As the war began and men were sent into battle to fight, many jobs became vacant and some new ones came into existence because of it. This was excellent for women. They got a chance to finally prove themselves to the men. The employment of women escalated significantly and by 1917, 68% of women had changed jobs since the war had first begun. This rise in female employment was in all fields across the board.
Common roles of women:
- Nursing
- Working in factories
- Sewing Bandages
- Selling war bonds, shipyards, spies
- Being a homemaker
- Government clerks
- Stenographers
- Telegraphers
- Doctors
- Being lawyers
- Banking
- Civil servants
- Harvesting grain
- Running businesses
- Driving trucks
- Fundraising
- Ticket selling
- Elevator operating
- Chauffeuring
- Street car conducting
- Railroad track walking
- Section hand
- Locomotive wiper and oilers
- Locomotive dispatching
- Block operating
- Draw bridge attending
- Working in machine shops
- Working in steel mills
- Working in powder and ammunition factories
- Airplane engineering
- Boot blacking
- Farming
- Driving
As many women left their domestic roles behind to expand their skills and start new jobs which came with a greater responsibility and a sense of achievement, more domestic jobs became available. This resulted in an enormous amount of jobs which were obtainable to women. Despite their age or social status, basically all women wanted to work during World War 1. Motives varied but the main two reasons were that they either wanted to aid their countries in winning the war or they needed to receive income to support their family in the absence of their husbands, fathers or brothers.
To assist the soldiers at war, women:
- Knitted them socks, vests, mittens and mufflers*
- Sewed them pajamas and shirts
- Prepared packages for them
- Encouraged other men to enlist
- Sold war bonds
They may have suffered great pain, sadness, loneliness and loss; however, women did benefit from World War 1. They were given a chance to show that they were extremely capable of carrying out roles which they were never allowed to do previously. WW1 was an event which took a step out of feminism* and into equality. Newspapers began to report about women’s achievements, their pay started to rise and they became independent women who knew that they no longer needed a man in their lives.
Common Roles of Women After World War One
Two women protesting for the voting rights of women.
When the war ended in 1918, unfortunately things basically went back to the way they were originally. Women resumed their domestic roles and women’s employment rates dropped significantly. However, there were some positive outcomes that came out of the war. At the end of World War 1 women over the age of 30 in Britain were given the right to vote. Two years later in 1920, the United States also granted voting rights to women which were aged over 30. In 1950 there were 69 countries which allowed female voting and by 1975 it had expanded to a total of 129 countries.
After the war was over and the men had returned back home, the appearance of women changed. Their clothing was a lot less formal. Shorter skirts and hair became more fashionable. Women also wore makeup and smoked in public for the first time ever.
After the war was over and the men had returned back home, the appearance of women changed. Their clothing was a lot less formal. Shorter skirts and hair became more fashionable. Women also wore makeup and smoked in public for the first time ever.
*Definition in glossary © 2013 Samantha Tong
