Important Roles Women Held During World War II At The Frontlines and Homefront (U.S.A.)

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Role of American women in the Second World War
The Second World War opened a new chapter in the lives of Americans, including women. While husbands, sons, fathers, and brothers went to fight in the pacific and Europe, millions of women matched to manufacturing industries, textiles, transportation sector, military bases, and offices to work in paying jobs. Besides, women assumed roles in the family that were previously held by men before the war started. Thousands of more women joined their male counterparts on the battlefields in uniforms. Over 350,000 women joined and served the armed forces during this period (Milkman, 469). Thus said, the Second World War offered women opportunities to enter into jobs that were initially perceived as men's roles. Actually, women did not only give their loved ones to the war effort but also committed their energy, time, and some gave their lives in the home front and beyond.
After the First World War, the United States realized that participating in international battles was a big mistake. As a result, Americans pursued peace through isolation and consistently supported nonintervention and disarmament policies. Unfortunately, this only lasted until 1941, when the United States swiftly devoted itself to war after the deadly Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (Yellin, 5). In this attack, Japanese bombers hit eight United States battleships, damaging four and sinking four, destroyed 300 aircraft, and claimed 2,400 Americans' lives. With this in mind, the country committed all its assets to war, including women (Weatherford, 14). While millions of men were overseas serving in the armed forces, American women took various jobs in the manufacturing, service industries, and the military, to name a few.
The war changed the lives of both men and women in a significant way. When the battle began, early and quick marriages became widespread, as teenagers married their lovers before they went to the battlefield overseas. Because war requires a large labor force, Americans, both female and male, faced domestic hardships and intensified pressures from the government and organizations to provide labor during this period. Although women were often considered domestic helpers, the war led Americans to rethink women's roles, how they are supposed to behave, and their roles in society and families (Yellin, 10). The federal government saw the potential in women in the provision of labor. As such, they encouraged women to take up new roles in organizations and the military.
Women on the home front assumed jobs in war-related organizations, worked in defense plants and managed their homes. For instance, in New Orleans, women assumed the role of "conductresses" due to the rising demand for public transportation. When men left, women became proficient finance managers, mechanics, cooks, and house providers and provided psychological support to their loved ones via letters (Jack, 10). Women took roles traditionally assumed as men roles and were assumed unsuitable because they were dirty and complicated. With no time, women became policewomen, drivers, and train cleaners, drivers, bank attendants, and factory laborers, to name a few.
Over the years, the federal go...