World War II Impacts on Women

World War II Impacts on Women
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World War II Impacts on Women
World War II (WWII) positively and negatively impacted women since it improved their opportunities and physically endangered them. Women in different countries experienced various impacts of the war. During the war, women performed men's jobs as men served in the military but also experienced some physical harm. This paper highlights WWII's impacts on women, particularly improved opportunities and the physical dangers, and how these impacts vary by country.
Improved Opportunities
In the U.S., women were homemakers or worked simple jobs like receptionists, department store clerks, or secretaries before WWII. However, during WWII, women took the military and civilian jobs men used to do (McDermott, 2018). In addition, the war provided better opportunities for women to work in various positions, including nurses, government officials, drivers, pilots, engineers, agricultural, defense plants, and factory workers (McDermott, 2018). Therefore, WWII allowed women to be in the home-front labor force in America.
Conversely, the war impacted women in Croatia, Italy, Slovenia, and Austria. Verginella (2020) explained that women in these countries easily crossed borders to mediate between neighboring countries following the war's tensions since they were regarded as less politically dangerous than men. Furthermore, despite the border redefinition after the war, women could cross officially closed national borders to continue working in their initial jobs, like street sellers, public offices, and housemaids. Consequently, women had better economic opportunities to build microeconomic bridges between neighboring nations (Verginella, 2020). Furthermore, even though women had fewer opportunities than men, women experienced empowerment since some participated in political, economic, and social reconstruction and peace-building after WWII (Verginella, 2020). For instance, women formed multi-ethnic peace groups in post-conflict times, reflecting improved opportunities for women's empowerment.
British women took various jobs during WWII in the United Kingdom as men served in the armed forces. Women participated in different works, such as munitions workers, factories, armed forces, mechanics, bus and fire engine drivers, engineers, nurses, welders, and air raid wardens (Crown, 2015). Additionally, women experienced promotion opportunities during the war. For instance, Princess Elizabeth attained a Junior Commander rank, yet she was initially a mechanic and a driver (Crown, 2015). WWII also influenced the Soviet Union countries like Russia to provide better opportunities to women. For example, the countries mobilized women to serve in official military roles in front-line units (Pruitt, 2021). Women in German and British forces joined the military in d...