Explain how the second world war changed the role of women in Britain
Explain how the second world war changed the role of women in Britain
There were many ways the second world war changed the role of women in Britain. One of these was the huge change in percentage of women in manual and factory employment. With conscription introduced a high percentage of able bodied men were fighting overseas. This left huge caps in employment in sectors like agriculture and munitions production, which in the time of war had considerably increased in demand. Numerous propaganda campaigns like the “we can do it” campaign meant that many women went out to work in jobs previously only occupied by men. Before the war women were seen as stay at home housewives. Their job description was to wash clean and have kids, with the huge surge in female employment they were becoming the new workforce and women were now just as much workers as the men.
Another way that the role of women changed was through the sexual revolution. With such a low male presence the female population started to become more outlandish and daring. With Americas involvement in the war many US troops were stationed throughout the uk. With them they brought magazines films and stories of the sexualized glamorous Hollywood fad in America. British women were being shown things they had never seen and they all wanted to live the American dream. Women started wearing much shorter dresses and started drinking and smoking in public like men did. Sex was no longer something bound between marriage the war was a very different time for a lot of women. The uncertainty that their husbands were coming home, lonliness and excitement of American troop presence meant that women were much more sexualized something that stuck once the war was over.
A final point on how the second world war changed the role of women is that it opened up a whole new section amongst the British armed forces. The women fighting on the home front worked as messengers, decoders, nurses, scramblers and air rade wardens.
There were many ways the second world war changed the role of women in Britain. One of these was the huge change in percentage of women in manual and factory employment. With conscription introduced a high percentage of able bodied men were fighting overseas. This left huge caps in employment in sectors like agriculture and munitions production, which in the time of war had considerably increased in demand. Numerous propaganda campaigns like the “we can do it” campaign meant that many women went out to work in jobs previously only occupied by men. Before the war women were seen as stay at home housewives. Their job description was to wash clean and have kids, with the huge surge in female employment they were becoming the new workforce and women were now just as much workers as the men.
Another way that the role of women changed was through the sexual revolution. With such a low male presence the female population started to become more outlandish and daring. With Americas involvement in the war many US troops were stationed throughout the uk. With them they brought magazines films and stories of the sexualized glamorous Hollywood fad in America. British women were being shown things they had never seen and they all wanted to live the American dream. Women started wearing much shorter dresses and started drinking and smoking in public like men did. Sex was no longer something bound between marriage the war was a very different time for a lot of women. The uncertainty that their husbands were coming home, lonliness and excitement of American troop presence meant that women were much more sexualized something that stuck once the war was over.
A final point on how the second world war changed the role of women is that it opened up a whole new section amongst the British armed forces. The women fighting on the home front worked as messengers, decoders, nurses, scramblers and air rade wardens.