Ww2 Women

The article The Women’s Land Army During World War II by Caron Smith describes how women got involved in agriculture on the home front during World War II. During WWII, because there was such a high need for men to serve, women got the chance to step up and really work. This was their first chance to really show what women could do. Until WWII women, although they had recently earned their right to vote, were still mainly in the domestic realm and most didn’t work. During this time women were actively recruited to replace the men who went to war. The Women’s Land Army or WLA was an organization that recruited women in city’s who could work and help on farms. Women who already lived on farms also stepped up and took over the role of the men as well as continuing their domestic duties. These women and the city women attended training sessions on how to use machinery such as combines. Since even the farm women had little experience local WLA organizations gave these women the
In Kansas, many women would be hired in Wichita to work in the aircraft plants. These women who worked in factories were often paid very little. However, women who worked on farms generally received no pay and many saw no problem with this as they saw it as doing their patriotic duty. In other parts of the U.S. women were hired for more various jobs, in Kansas, the emphasis was on farming as we now needed to supply food for a war. This source gives many statistics on how women helped during the war effort. It also explains how once the war was over women still wanted to acquire these jobs because it gave them a sense of freedom. Smith also uses testimony from women and men who lived through this to get the point of view of the farmer who was leaving his land to someone who had never worked on a farm before in some cases and the women who stepped up and took over their husbands’ duties, as well as, continuing their