Women+of+WW1+and+WW2

=**Women of WW1 and WW2 **=

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World War 1 was a turning point for women. It gave them the opportunity to prove themselves in a male-dominated society. No longer would they only be caring for the children & looking after the house. Because so many men went to war, there was a huge gap in employment so the women began to replace the men. The more well-known jobs of women of WW1 are nurses, munitions factory workers, sewing & spies. After a few months, The Women’s Royal Air Force was created & women were allowed to work as mechanics on planes. By 1917, almost 70% of women had changed jobs since the war began. Nearly 20% were no longer in domestic service & 22% of unemployed women in 1914 now had work. =====

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Just as in the first war, women were very important to success of World War 2. But, as with WW1, they found that at they end, the advances they made were greatly reduced when the men came home. After World War 2, many women lost their jobs. The returning soldiers wanted their jobs back & the women to go back to being domestic. The war allowed lower class women to work in higher careers such as lawyers, doctors & accountants. Women were even allowed to join services like the Women’s Land Army. Eventually, the government realized that women can work & that they need them to send munitions to the front. World War 1 changed many women’s lives. Although some were long term, others were only short term. Woman successfully demonstrated that they were capable of doing skilled work so they were beginning to be treated as equals. Women were getting more rights & started to exercise their freedom. =====

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World War 1 and World War 2 could be marked as a major event which completely changed the role, image and responsibilities of women in society. Prior to WW1, women did not use to work outside. Specially in those industries that required heavy physical or mental work. However, during WW1 and WW2, theres was massive shortage of man power as most males went to battle ground. The warring nations had no option but to use the women of the society in factories and production plants. From weapons to basic necessities like food, clothes everything were produced by the women. Countries like Germany and Russia even used women soldiers when needed. =====



=**War Brides **= ====“War bride” refers to the near 50,000 women who met & married Canadian soldiers during the Second World War. Most of them were from Britain, but others came from Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Belgium & France. These ladies followed their loved ones. Wherever the veterans went, they followed & made new homes. The war brides & their families welcomed into each new community where they settled. Just as in the first war, women were very important to success of World War 2. But, as with WW1, they found that at they end, the advances they made were greatly reduced when the men came home. After World War 2, many women lost their jobs. The returning soldiers wanted their jobs back & the women to go back to being domestic. As many as 100,000 war brides left the United Kingdom, 150,000 to 200,000 hailed from continental Europe, 15,500 from Australia and 1,500 from New Zealand, between the years 1942 and 1952. Of these, approximately 44,000 went to Canada accompanied by some 22,000 children. They emigrated mainly in 1946 in specially commissioned "war bride ships," like the Queen Mary, Leticia, or Mauretania, landing at Pier 21 in Halifax. A war bride museum is currently located on that site at Pier 21. ====

====Nursing became almost the only area of female contribution that involved being at the front and experiencing the war. In Britain the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps, First Aid Nursing Yeomanry and Voluntary aid Detachment were all started before World War I. The VADs were not allowed in the front line until 1915. ====
 * Military service **

More than 12,000 women enlisted in the United States Navy and Marine Corps during the First World War. About 400 of them died in that war.
====Over 2,800 women served with the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps during the First World War and it was during that era that the role of Canadian women in the military first extended beyond nursing. Women were given paramilitary training in small arms, drill, first aid and vehicle maintenance in case they were needed as home guards. Forty-three women in the Canadian military died during WWI. ====

=** Rosie the Riveter **=

====As an American cultural icon, Rosie the Riveter represents the women who worked in factories during WW2. She was designed to encourage women to fill in for men when they were off at war. In her most famous propaganda poster, Rosie has a red and white bandana and a blue shirt from which a flexed bicep is bulging. She looks confident and proud and the caption reads "We Can Do It." Another slogan "Do the job he left behind", meant that any woman could do the same job that any man could. As soon as men returned home, the women were forced out of these jobs, even though they had no other of support. ==== ====Although women took on male dominated trades during World War II, they were expected to return to their everyday housework once men returned from the war. Government campaigns targeting women were addressed solely at housewives, perhaps because already employed women would move to the higher-paid "essential" jobs on their own, perhaps because it was assumed that most would be housewives. One government advertisement asked women "Can you use an electric mixer? If so, you can learn to operate a drill. “Propaganda was also directed at their husbands, many of who were unwilling to support such jobs. Most women opted to do this. Later, many women returned to traditional work such as clerical or administration positions, despite their reluctance to re-enter the lower-paying fields. However, some of these women continued working in the factories. ====

=Tokyo Rose = ====Tokyo Rose is a collective name given to all female broadcasters on Japanese radio during WW2 by American soldiers. The American government never found real evidence that a woman named Tokyo Rose ever existed. The voice was said to have taunted Allied forces and hurting morale. Iva Ikuko Toguri is the woman who was tried as Tokyo Rose. A first generation Japanese-American visiting family in Japan when the 2nd world war broke out. Iva was trapped in Japan and pressured by Japanese police to renounce her American citizenship. She refused. Iva learned Japanese and took two jobs while she looked for a way to return home. One of her jobs was a typist for Radio Tokyo. She met American and Australian prisoners of war who were forced to broadcast radio propaganda. Iva gave black market food, medicine and supplies to the POWs. When Radio Tokyo wanted a female voice for propaganda announcements, the POWs chose Iva and she called herself "Orphan Ann". Her POW friends wrote her scripts and used pro-American messages whenever they could. When the war ended, many reporters went to Japan to find the infamous Tokyo Rose and offered a large cash prize for an interview. Radio Tokyo pointed fingers at Iva Toguri and she accepted, thinking she and her new husband could use the money. She signed a contract saying she was the infamouse Tokyo Rose. The reporter gave the interview notes to US Army Counter and Intelligence and they arrested her. She spent a year in Japanese jail and then was released. Two years later in 1948, Iva was taken to American to be tried for treason. Her trial is said to be one of the most expensive in American history at that time. The US government was against Toguri and her defense, but the judge later admitted that he was prejudiced against her from the beginning. Iva was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but was released early in 1956. She was then served with a deportation order which took two years to fight. In 1976, 60 Minutes told the story of Tokyo Rose from Iva Toguri's point of view, and this led to President Gerald Ford apologizing to her in 1977. Iva's husband was never able to join her in the U.S. Reluctantly, they divorced in 1980 and he died in 1996. Now, Iva Toguri lives in Chicago where she runs her family's import business. ==== Liz Wesley

Sources: http://www.infobarrel.com/Roles_of_Women_in_WW1 http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/women_WW2.htm http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/womenww1_three.htm