Women Roles in World War 2

During World War II women played important roles in the fighting front and the home front. Millions of women were working in factories and offices while others were on military bases to work in paying jobs. WWII gave women the chance to prove they are just as capable as men.

While men were being sent out to fight Women were working in the factories, motivated by the famous poster of Rosie the Riveter exclaiming Ð''we can do it!' "The women factory workers fought their own battles during the war. They struggled with new horizons, social discrimination, gender harassment, and physical pain from long hours and poor work conditions.

They worked assembling bombs, building tanks, and grease locomotives. Although women were considered better as some tasks than men, they received just 60% of the male wages. They were treated as substitutes while men were fighting. A woman is a substitute," claimed a War Department brochure, "like plastic instead of metal."

In June 1944 the army granted its nurse's officers' commissions and full retirement privileges, dependents' allowances, and equal pay. Moreover, the government provided free education to nursing students between 1943 and 1948.this meant a large number of women entered the profession. The women went though a 4 week training program, The nurses learnt how to deal in combat zones, avoiding ammunition, how to survive 120 degree deserts and hiking over long distances carrying up to 30 pound backpacks. They had to be ready to move luckily to help the wounded at any time.