Women's Roles During World War I New Opportunities and Challenges

Women's Roles during World War IName
Institutional Affiliation
Women's Roles during World War I
Introduction
World War I opened up employment opportunities for women as men left their normal duties to join the army and women assumed their places. Although women already played an important role in the American workforce, they were extremely limited in the work they could do before the war. However, historians have always debated the extent to which employment opportunities for American women survived the war. From this debate, it is believed that World War I did not have lasting effects in terms of job opportunities for women. This paper identifies the new opportunities and challenges women faced during World, where women worked before, during, and after the war, and ways in which society changed as a result of women’s roles during the First World War.
New Opportunities and Challenges Women Faced during World War I
During the First World War (1914-1918), there was massive recruitment of women into jobs left by men as they joined the army to fight (Grayzel, 2013). New opportunities were also created with the establishment of munitions factories. During this time, there was a high demand for weapons and munitions factories had become the single largest employer of women at the time. While women faced challenges with the initial resistance to hiring women to work in areas that were typically known for men, the 1916 introduction of conscription increased the demand for women workers (Jensen, 2008). Through massive recruitment drives and campaigns by governments, women entered the workforce around this time.
Opportunities that were hitherto reserved for men such as bus conductors, ticket collectors, firefighters, bank clerks, and tellers were taken up by women. Some women could also work in engineering areas and precision or heavy machinery. In Britain, Russia, and Australia, millions of women replaced men in the workforce (Grayzel 2013). Although the war presented new opportunities for women to join the labor force, it did not always lead to an increase in their salaries as they earned much lower compared to their male counterparts. While more women joined the labor market, they were undermined in terms of wages. Women in France, for instance, initiated industrial actions over low wages and long working hours. During the war, female trade unions increased to defend the rights of women.
Where did women work before, during, and after World War I?
Before World War I, women were limited in the labor market as they wer...