SOCIAL ASPECTS OF WORLD WAR I [SOC]
Period 6: Contemporary
By: Prayusha Pandey
Women at Work
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Most Common Job for Women
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Women Social Classes
- Middle and upper class women reported that war was a liberating experience, that freed them from other responsibilities that had limited their work.
- The employment of upper class women diverted the focus on parental control and gave women a sense of mission and all the women knew how much of an importance they were for war effort.
- However, on working class women, the impact of World War I was relatively minor.
- Working class women in cities had been accustomed to earning wages, and for them even war work was less liberating.
- Most government promised equal pay for equal work but that was promise was unfulfilled.
- Even though during the war women's industrial wages increased, there was a noticeable gap always between the incomes of men and women.
- The Great War (World War I) only temporarily ended traditional patterns of work outside the home.
- However, there was an extension on voting rights for women shortly after the war
- In Britain it was in 1918 (30 years or older), Germany it was in 1919, Austria it was in 1919.
- This was due to the role women assumed during this war.
Video
Map
This map shows the parts of areas in which women took over major jobs
Self Created piece
Synthesis
Throughout our society we have seen ever changing roles and views of women. During World War I, after men left to go for war, women's position in society changed as they started taking over jobs that were previously occupied by men. This showed a change in their roles as they went from domestic jobs to now jobs in the labor force. Changes like these in society have been have been shown throughout many aspects of society. For example, in Sparta during the Classical Era, while men were off fighting in the army, women were free to take charge of anything outside this. Meaning, they took over the jobs that men previously occupied, just like during the Contemporary Era when women took over jobs of men after they went off to war.
Bibliography
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- Jansonmedia. "World War 1: American Legacy (Women Clip)." YouTube. YouTube, 11 Mar. 2010. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.