This week I was watching the history channel and there was a show about Women’s roles in the World Wars. Prior to the First World War women’s role in society in western countries was generally confined to the domestic sphere, but not necessarily their own home. While some women managed to receive a tertiary education and others to go into non-traditional career paths, for the most part women were expected to be primarily involved in “duties at home” and “women’s work”. More than any previous wars, World Wars I and II hinged as much on industrial production as they did on battlefield clashes. With millions of men away fighting and with the inevitable horrendous casualties, there was a severe shortage of labour in a range of industries, from rural and farm work to city office jobs. During both World War though women became more involved in the military during World War II, they were not treated equally to men. Many commanding officers purposefully kept women out of combat. There were also cases in which men falsely accused women of promiscuity, although there were more cases where promiscuity was a factor.ar I and World War II, women were called on, by necessity, to do work and to take on roles that were outside their traditional gender expectations. In Great Britain this was known as a process of “Dilution” and was strongly contested by the trade unions, particularly in the engineering and ship building industries. Women did, for the duration of both World Wars, take on jobs that were traditionally regarded as skilled “men’s work”. However, in accordance with the agreement negotiated with the trade unions, women undertaking jobs covered by the Dilution agreement lost their jobs at the end of the First World War.
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