In: Economics
how does the role of women change after world war II in society?
When the war ended in 1945 "the extraordinary employment opportunities for women did likewise." While women made much progress during the war, after the war their roles changed again as men returned to their jobs. Women were supposed to "give up their wartime jobs and resume their full-time homemade occupation" In 1944, the U.S. Women's Bureau conducted a women's survey "in ten war production centers across the country, it was found that 75% of them intended to continue to work in the post-war era. In addition, 84 per cent of women employed in manufacturing wanted to maintain their factory jobs
Although women wanted to maintain their jobs, "women were forced out by men returning home and the decline in demand for war materials," the same propaganda agencies that had begged women to work during the war, "now praised the virtues of giving up their jobs so that men returned to work" (Farm Life). A year after the Second World War ended, "three and a half million women left the workforce voluntarily or involuntarily
Little by little, women returned to the work force "because of economic necessity, the need to purchase more consumer goods, or economic need. Many women have only returned to work because they wanted the fulfillment. Women started taking on new positions that did not exist when the war began. These jobs "came about from the advances in technology made throughout the war. Women took up sales of Tupperware because they could earn money from their homes and work from it. Their schedules were flexible and they were able to cater for their children's needs while they were working
For many women, the cord was cut after WWII, they "acquired many new skills and were born into a new world. While many women returned to being homemakers, they never again will be the same. The war allowed women to get workplace strength and mobility. We were no longer pushed into the conventional positions of women in which society still saw them as being in). One source says that women faced the greatest challenge of seeking to obtain respect and represent their country in more ways than they had in previous years, during World War II. They knew little, their efforts would prove victorious, and they would leave an eternal mark on the American Society