World War I and World War II were a global conflict that left scores of people dead across the world. The First World War occurred between the years 1914-1918. World War II broke two decades later which started in the year 1939-1940. The second war had more devastating results than the first one. The world became politically and economically unstable. The war took more lives and destroyed property and land. The years that immediately followed World War I and World War II was a time of both expansion and contraction of individual freedom. This contradiction played out in the lives of women both positively and negatively as will be outlined in the paper.
The war had in store, new opportunities for the American women. Women responded differently to the call of duty depending on marital status, age, class such as high class, middle class and lower class, age, race and number of children. Patriotism and economic incentives is what drove the women to work. Once they got employed they realized that there were other non material benefits such as learning a new set of skills and contributing to the good of the public.
They got the opportunity to show their talents and skills in a world where only men were given recognition. The economy improved drastically due to increased production of war equipment. Different races also benefited because the government ended segregation which brought about the end of racial discrimination around the world. Racial discrimination was one of the human vices that had been around the world for a very long time. The blacks were discriminated by the whites due to their skin colour. Technology also evolved when the first atomic bomb was created and the United States became a global power. There were numerous changes during the post-war period which had an impact on the lives of women. The impact of this period was freedom of women to choose the lifestyles they wanted to live, and an opportunity to be employed in both formal and informal sectors. After World War I and World War II, racial discrimination received great attention in the United States.
The focus was to promote democracy and contain communism. During the cold war, historical documents that contained civil rights drew connections explicitly between anti-communism and civil rights. The American culture war interpretation created factors that motivated cultural and critical legal transformation (Dudziak 62-64). The years created a need for a large number of women to work and get paid in the work force. Women were encouraged to start working because the men were out fighting in the world war, thus creating working opportunities. Most women decided to take up the jobs as this would improve them both socially and economically. They played a very vital role during the pre-war and post-war period. Women were empowered with social significance to enable them fight social stigma and exploitation in the form of low wages and poor working conditions. Women were no longer confined to the same set of jobs, but they could also compete with men in more competitive positions. Women were encouraged to take on jobs which were regarded as men’s territory such as factories, steel companies, and electrical firms. Women volunteered for military service where they served as army corps (Dudziak 72). The labor Government introduced the Women’s Employment Act whose main aim was to protect women’s rights in the organizations. The Act protected women against sexual harassment, better wage bill and they were allowed to go on maternity leave.
The century iteration was comparatively exclusive and socio-economically democratic. The influx of immigrants corresponded in a chronological manner during the 1920’s. The changing occupational and cultural standards were raised. The influence of credentials intensified after World War II and educated women were the desirable industrial workers. They were eligible for promotions and security for the employment offered. The world experienced cycles of poverty which shaped the social economic character. Semi skilled and skilled workers clustered in their own ethnic and racial groups.
The restriction of women cheap labours from the United States economy was mandatory to the rise of a major influence on socialization and growth. Middle working class women prepared effective appeals because they had a wider employment claims. The appeal opposed the lower wage bill and social prejudices against female employees. Employed females were now prepared to fight through the formation of women's unions. The union got a positive feedback because the membership increased and women were given voting rights as men. They could now vote for their rights and any person willing to vote had to be twenty one years of age and above. The United States generally filed civil rights cases which had an unrestrictive approach to women’s rights. Due to international focus on the American community, their political ideology and foreign policy had difficulties with countries such as Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Many women chose to stay unemployed due to the discrimination they were facing. The influence of these institutions at the end of the civil war increased the labour market for women and youth. The government had to raise their wage bill to entice them to go back to work. The low wage bill was a temporary measure designed to last only until the world war ended This meant that the industry operating cost rose, and therefore the organizations’ also needed to work towards a higher profit margin to sustain its workforce.
There were shortages of material, labour, and goods immediately after the war. During the war, organizations had experienced an expansion which was converted to peacetime uses. This is what made cheap labour to be vital during the war which was still scarce since the birth rate had gone down and some women would still not agree to work because the wage was low. Issues of civil rights could not be fully understood after the post war years because the government had taken a keen interest in serving the foreign policy interests first. The American democratic principles set the anticommunist ideology, which was pervasive on the debate of the civil rights issues (Dudziak 66-70). The Employment Act was re-established but it made no provision for female workers who had worked throughout the war.
In a recap, the World War I and World War II helped bring about individual freedom. Even though many people died and property was destroyed during this period, the war brought human civilization to the world. Discrimination of women reduced significantly, as they could now work in areas that were regarded as a men’s territory. A wage bill was also passed which was supposed to raise their wages to an acceptable level.
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