Australian Women During Ww2 Essay

As World War II developed more and more Australian men were conscripted by the British Empire to join the war and therefore tens-of-thousands of men left Australia, leaving their wives and children behind. On the home front, women dealt with the consequences of war in an extreme manner which consisted of managing children and family accountabilities alone, shortages of resources, as well as their concerns for the future, and the grief of losing loved ones. Although this was a distressing and challenging time for the women population within Australia it also enabled them to access ‘a man’s world’ and be successful within the economical workspace, which was previously not accessible to them prior to the war. 'Rosie the Riveter ' was a

The Women’s Armed Services Integration Act was a law passed by President Harry S. Truman, allowing women to join the army. Before the act was passed, only men were permitted to be in combat, while women in the army worked in clinical positions. When World War II began, despite women not being allowed to join the “regular” army, the Women’s Army Corps was created and granted full army status during wartime. The growth in the number of women in the corps, along with the fact that they performed equally to the army, were two of the main factors for the law to be created and passed. The WAC was set to be expired in 1948, but the act was passed in the same years which meant that women would continue to be allowed to fight in the army.

To face this threat all Australian, ‘men, women and children, were urged to put their backs into the war effort,’ (Ww2australia.gov.au, 2014). One of the biggest changes women had to undergo was their new role in working industries, which had previously been male-dominate areas. School children tried to help as much as they could, collecting anything that could be recycled to use for the war effort, such as newspaper and old tires. It wasn’t long until the Australian government stepping, putting in various controls, such as the National Security Act. This act enabled the Australian Government to take over and control nearly everything.

During the war, Australia adopted a period of censorship, preventing information falling onto the enemy’s hands but also depriving citizens of news. In World War II, women were actively recruited into jobs that had always been for men. At home women had to deal with: loss of loved ones, managing children, family’s responsibilities alone and shortages of resources. Women were scene to have skills that could contribute to the war effort, for example Rationing and shortages meant that

According to WW1 New Zealand military doctor Robert Campbell Begg, the nurses work was “the most important job of all”, as the nurses care for the wounded “saved more lives than doctors’ drugs and operative skill…”. This implies that the nurses saved many lives, and without them, the military would most likely have failed to bring any soldiers back to their families. It also demonstrates a positive and respectful value towards the nurses from a WW1 doctor, who possibly stated this promote the nurses’ value who served during the Gallipoli campaign. Another source, from The Australian War Memorial, supports this as it explicitly says “…having faced the dangers and demands of wartime…nurses had proved to be essential to the military medical service…” This suggests that the Gallipoli campaign nurses faced many moments where they could lose their lives, either under attack or from disease, and they worked tirelessly to complete the wartime ‘demands’, as in the endless work of healing and caring many soldiers at once.

World War 1 impacted Australian society greatly. This event did change society forever. Women were seen differently as their role in society changed. It brought along the idea of conscription and propaganda to influence the civilian population. Women had to adapt to new lifestyles during World War 1 as the death toll of Australian troops just kept decreasing.

Although the Australian Army Nursing Service was a viable occupation for women prior to WWII, few women were engaged in this service, as women needed a sufficient education and there was a strong push from the government for women to stay out of the workforce (State Library of Victoria, 2015). These sentiments underwent dramatic change during the war, with an increasing number of women contributing to the war and enjoying it. Sister Jane Tivey, a nurse on board the ship ‘Destroyer’ in WWII described this liberation, “On the Destroyer it was the most marvellous feeling… [even though] I hadn’t had a bath for five days and slept in my clothing” (Australian War Memorial, 2015). This was a common attitude for women of all ages as corroborated by sixteen year old Grace Wallace, a volunteer for the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) in WWII. Wallace denoted that times were tough, work was hard but the girls got on quite well together (Green Net, 2015).

During World War 2 (1939 – 1945), Australia had a variety of impacts on both its government and its people. The war had a great effect on the place of indigenous people in Australia as indigenous men and women joined services throughout the country. The Aboriginal Australians, both the men and the women had contributed in the second Great War. Meanwhile, when the Aboriginals of Australia had jobs during World War 2, Australia’s economy boomed with the help of the war as many Australian troops had gone out to fight for the British. The economy had boomed during the period of the Second World War as Australian products could be produced as well.

The Australian Women’s Role Post-World War One The role of women changed dramatically due to World War One (WW1). The reason for this is that whilst the men were at war fighting for Australia, the women took their place and kept things running smoothly, therefore calling attention to each woman's capability to accomplish more than being a housewife. Throughout the following exploration, the drastic change brought to the role of women in contemporary society as the result of WW1. This change occurred due to a variety of causes. Firstly, society began to realise women could do what men could do just as well.

Men had to step away to aid in the war meaning there was a demand for women within the workforce. According to document 4, the Office of War Information encouraged women to step away from their housewife roles and fill in the jobs that were left behind. They achieved this through propaganda posters claiming that it would help the war end sooner; about 6 million women joined the workforce. Some of these jobs include farmworkers, mechanics, construction workers, manufacturers, and Messengers. Within the military 4 branches were created for women, opening up more opportunities and employing 216,000 women, allowing them to step further away from the traditional jobs.

During World War II, Woman’s were assembled for duty in the Canadian Armed Forces, for the first time. The armed force was shy of men in war services and administration, which lead the Canadian government to choose and declare on August 13, 1941 to give woman’s the privilege to take an interest in war utility. 50,000 women were enlisted and more than half provided service in the Canadian Army. Most were doled out occupations including customary female work, for example, cooking, clothing and administrative obligations, also woman had pioneer roles in the mechanized and specialized fields. The Canadian Women 's Army Corps (CWAC) performed fundamental administrations, both at home and abroad, that achieved Allied victory.

American Women during World War 2 had many responsibilities at war, work, and home. But they did not have many equal rights compared to the rest of the society. The women’s rights and responsibilities topic is very interesting. One is understanding and knowing the history about the responsibilities women had to do and how hard working they were. This topic is very important because there was a big change in women’s rights and responsibilities during World War 2.

In the book written by (Gavin, 1997) it was cited that “As women took over from their absent men in hundreds of new and challenging occupations, many of which had previously been considered inappropriate”. From the beginning of the World War 1, the German women were participating a great deal. They contributed to half a million-people working on the munitions manufacturing alone (Gavin, 1997). It also mentioned in the book that over in the U.S, the men in charge refused to let the women participate up until April 1917 (Gavin, 1997). The U.S government never formally authorize the enrolment of women, despite Army officials repeatedly asking for such personnel’s.

However, many women were very inexperienced when they first started. According to the BBC article, “World War One: The many battles faced by WW1’s nurses,” “Thousands of young women from middle-class homes with little experience of domestic work, not much relevant education and total ignorance of male bodies, volunteered and found themselves pitched into military hospitals.” (S2) In other words, not all of the heroic nurses we hear about were very experienced at first. Most had to learn very quickly because of the enormous number of soldiers that needed to be tended to.

To what extent is feminism supported and/or criticised in Australian contemporary society, and what do you think might explain this? Feminism is a movement seeking equality in society for all men, women and transgender people. Many feminist movements focus on eliminating the oppression of women as well as pushing for women's rights and interests. Feminism has been through a number of waves, the first wave demanded women have the right to vote (week5 text).