Effects of WWI and WWII on the status and role of women

Female employment during WWII in GB (5)

- 1941: gov conscripted women between 18 - 60 by giving them a list of jobs to choose from - 1942: unmarried women (19 - 30) were conscripted for war work. - 1943: all females liable for directed labour up to 51 years old - women demanded equal pay BUT this was opposed by Churchill and other male politicians who thought this might upset male workers - 1943: Parliament passed a law for women to get equal insurance and benefits but not equal pay for equal work (in practice, identical work) - Proposal for equal pay for female teachers originally passed by 1 vote BUT Churchill demanded a revote and it was voted down

Extent of female employment: 1) Germany 1914 2) Germany 1916 3) Great Britain 1914 4) Great Britain 1918 5) BUT an example of how military age men were still the majority in non-traditional fields 6) another BUT

1) 22% factory workers were women 2) 33% 3) 23.4% of women employed outside the home, excluding domestic servants, 3.3 million in industry 4) 46.7% employed outside the home, 4.9 million in industry and 40% of female workers were married 5) USA 1918: females = 20% of all manufacturing workers 6) Women didn't gain new skills/become craftswomen because they didn't see the need for intensive training for transient jobs

Ways that Russia encouraged equality to females after WWI (4)

1) All education levels and jobs open to women 2) Women encouraged to work outside the home with propaganda showing them in non-traditional roles 3) Granted equal pay for identical work, maternity leave and equal rights in marriage and divorce 4) 1920 - 34: Health care allowed free abortions

Between the Wars (2)

1) Although most women left/returned to female sectors, overall female employment increased in most countries 2) Birth rates fell in industrialised countries because improvements in medicine increased likelihood of children surviving to adult, making them expensive to raise. This made families want to limit children, with the result that many countries blamed working women for the drop in fertility (i.e. Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and Franco's Spain)

Effects during WWII (4)

1) Employment - recruitment of women into the workforce undertaken rapidly in most countries 2) Combat roles - women immediately recruited to auxiliary services in non-combat roles and more in combat than in WWI since they couldn't be protected anyways 3) Childcare - British government evacuated kids from cities to protect them from bombing, so many in the countryside acted as foster parents 4) Hardship: poverty, hungery, bombing, slave labour and rape

Reasons why employment increased in WWII (2)

1) Everyone expected a prolonged conflict rather than a war that would be over by Christmas and there was a positive precedent of female employment set in WWI 2) Total War justified blurring gender boundaries

Rationing: 1) GB 2) Canada and USA 3) Germany 4) German-occupied Poland and Russia (2) 5) Other examples of starvation (2)

1) Everyone had a healthier diet than today, although boring 2) Generous 3) Reasonable for "Aryan" countries and in Germany until last 2 years of war 4) Starvation rations - 4.2 million SU citizens starved to death - Poland 1941: Germans received 2613 calories/day, Poles 699 and Jews 184 5) - Food rationing in unoccupied USSR usually below 2000 calories needed by the average adult - 1943 Bengali Starvation

Long-Term Effects of WWII?

1) Extended Suffrage 2) Expanded employment 3) Roles in Armed Forces made permanent

Paid Employment during WWI (7)

1) Fell 30 - 40% as consumer industries were side-lined for war-related industries 2) Many family incomes fell as men were called up and women had to subsist on gov allowances 3) 1915: women hired in significant numbers in non-traditional jobs 4) Women in teaching, nursing, clerical work and other jobs open to males and females increased almost immediately 5) Women from rich families who had not been previously encouraged to work moved into these professions 6) Women moved into jobs traditionally done by men in their own factories (e.g. weaving textiles where they already worked spinning machines) 7) Worked in public transportation, munitions factories and heavy industry jobs; not paid the same as men, but could make more

Armed Forces during WWI (3)

1) In Russia, some female volunteers served in combat and fly reconnaissance flights 2) 1914: Maria Bochkareva got Nicholas II to let her enlist. Decorated for rescuing 50 wounded soldiers from the battlefield and was promoted to corporal. 3) Bochkareva also formed the "Woman's Death Battalion" to encourage men to fight harder through the bravery of women. 300 women joined.

Problems for equality in Russia after WWI

1) In practice, some jobs were still male dominated and others female dominated 2) Stalin made abortion illegal and divorce difficult in the mid-1930s 3) A "glass ceiling" remained with jobs considered "men's work" paid more = persistent wage gap; and women expected to cook, do housework and care for children

Effects on women Post-WWI (4)

1) Long-term effects on Employment opportunities - most women return to traditional employment/left workforce, continued work outside home in traditional female jobs, female employment increased when the economy picked up in 1920s and the memory of women in 'male' jobs helped with future employment 2) Suffrage 3) Clothing - need to save material & more practical clothing led to shorter dresses 4) Communism - full equality on paper, with communist movement all over the world encouraging females to join their ranks

Progress before WWI (5)

1) Many jobs long performed by women (textiles, agriculture, retail work, education, actresses) 2) 1860 - 80s: most medical schools began admitting women (women always attend to attend Italian unis) 3) 1800s: Married women obtained property rights and men not allowed to legally beat their wives in places like the UK and USA 4) Divorce available in most Protestant countries 5) Norway, Finland, NZ and part of Australia had granted female suffrage. In many other countries, women could vote in local elections, but not national.

Women experiencing hardship in WWII (Poverty and Hunger) [2]

1) Married women had to deal with life as single parent; work to compensate for lost income while continuing with childcare and housework 2) Rationing

Evidence against WWI helping women to get the vote (3)

1) Much credit must go to pre-war suffrage movements; women could vote before war in 4 countries 2) Netherlands was neutral in WWI but granted women's suffrage in 1919 3) France didn't grant the vote until 1944

Overall experience of WWI

1) New opportunities for single women from wealthy families and higher pay for those already working 2) Hardship for many due to less income and rationing (Germany dealing with starvation by the end, turnips were the standard German fare because the potato crop failed, supplemented by ersatz and adulterated products, and women became so malnourished they suffered from famine amenorrhea)

Effects of propoganda (2)

1) Praised women's contributions to the war effort, benefitting women's status and encouraging a positive public view of Female workers 2) Changed attitudes towards clothing

Problems women faced during WWI (2)

1) Some businesses took advantage and saved money by replacing male workers with women. This made many TU dubious who tried to block women's employment BUT there was some discussion of equal pay for equal work 2) Another common practice was to introduce machines to break down tasks so inexperienced women could do jobs formerly done by skilled men. This replaced some labour

Areas that women got involved in during WWI (4)

1) Voluntary work - recruitment drives, Red Cross, fundraising, handing out white feathers 2) Paid Employment 3) Armed forces - auxiliary services 4) Propoaganda

Evidence suggesting WWI helped women to get the vote (2)

1) War caused combatant countries to acknowledge women's vital role, which was reinforced by propaganda 2) Women in most countries involved in the war received the vote shortly after the war

Problems before WWI

1) Women were paid less than men for comparable/identical work and barred from many jobs reserved for men 2) Many schools didn't employ married female teachers. British nurses had to leave when they married until 1950s. 3) Easier for males to divorce females 4) Only 4 countries allowed women to vote

Female employment during WWII in USA (3)

1) Women's work was voluntary, but the proportion of women in the workforce rose from 24% of all workers before the war to 37% in 1945. After war, it dropped against to around 28%. 2) TUs behind call for equal pay for identical and comparable work and endorsed by National War Labour Board 3) 1945: Congress proposed the Women's Equal Pay Act, but it wasn't passed (only finally passed in 1963)

How many Koreans/Chinese forced as "comfort women" for Jpanese army?

100,000 and 200,000

What did the average German civilian consume between 1917 - 18? What became the standard German fare because the potato crop failed? What was this supplemented with? What is it called when women are so malnourished they stop menstruating and become sterile?

1000 calories/day Turnips Ersatz and adulterated products Famine amenorrhea

Example of female partisan?

18 year old Zoya captured for setting fire to German stables in Nov 1941, who said "Stalin is with us"

Examples of propaganda during WWI (2)

1915: Edith Cavell, British nurse, executed by Germans for hiding soldiers 1915: 17-year old Maria Vallini was executed for sending information on the Austrian army to her cousin, an Italian soldier

UN adopted Universal Declaration of HR which declared in Article ___ that _____ was a HUR?

1948 21 "equal and universal suffrage"

How many dead were civilians in WWII?

2/3

How many men, women and children shipped to Germany as ___ from occupied POland and Ukraine?

3 to 5.5 million Ostarbeiter

Which countries granted the vote to women in 1918? 1919? 1920?

Austria, Germany, Poland and the UK Luxembourg and the Netherlands Albania, Czechoslovakia, the US

Which countries granted the vote to __ in 1917? (2)

Canada wives and mothers of serving soldiers Russian Provisional Government women's suffrage after March Revolution

Countries that received the vote after WWII?

France, Japan, Italy, Yugoslavia, Vietnam, Korea, China, India, Pakistan, Singapore and Belgium

Female employment during WWII in Japan? In Germany?

Only 2.5 million conscripted. Also few

Women in combat roles during WWII in the USSR? (5)

They were allowed to volunteer from combat from the beginning of the war: 1) 100% nurses and 40% medics were female 2) 3 all-female air regiments 3) 1061 snipers killed 12,000 German soldiers 4) Air bombers "night witches" flew 24,000 sorties 5) 25% of partisans were female

Example of a country that went to an absurd length to keep women out of combat?

UK used women as ferry pilots to get the planes from factories to the air bases but wouldn't let them shoot the guns

Female employment during WWII in Russia 1) Russi 2) GB (5)

Women already well-integrated into the workforce