The importance of the role women has played over the history of time is undeniable. Culture nor location make a difference in their importance. Although the presence of woman is important this does not mean they have always been treated kind or fair or even justly. For much of history women as been treated as the lesser sex. In early times women were not allowed the rights to vote or learn trades unless the trade was a homesteading trade such as cooking sewing or farming.
During the 1800’s and early 1900’s there were multiple kinds of social classes in Britain. One class was the upper-class women, they were thought to be too respectful to work, and if for some reason they did work it reflected badly on their husbands because they lacked enough money. Most of this class of woman didn’t even have to do the work as a homemaker because they had people to do it for them. This made them unhappy at an increasing pace and bored and as time passed, they wanted to be offered the opportunity to work and make a difference to society. Then there were the working-class women or working girls, they had always made up a large part of the workforce in the nineteenth century. They had housewife duties of cooking, cleaning and motherly chores but were also charged with earning money for the family. Much like todays working woman undertaking jobs as house help, mill workers, as well as working on farms or mercantile. This could be rough because most of society still thought a woman’s place is in the home. Life changed greatly in the 1940’s women’s roles and expectations in society were changing at a very rapid pace. Previously they had little say in society and were stereotyped to stay home, make babies, be a good wife and make a good home. The 1940’s were different, life for women was growing quickly, most men had gone to war and someone had to step up and take the men’s place in society. Not only men were going to war women were also included, the war was so big that in 1942 The Women’s Army Corps (WAC) and Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services (WAVES) were created. After these organizations were created and accepted, congress allowed women to serve in the U.S. Navy. Going back to state side roles women worked factory, labor intensive jobs and become the attention of society in the entertainment industry. 1943 The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was founded. Throughout the 1940’s the number of women in the workforce increased by 25-35 percent. Making this a prosperous and important time in women’s history. In the late 1960’s and running through the 1970’s women fought back hard for equality. Women’s Strike for Equality organized 50,000 women for protest in the location of New York and another 100,000 women across the United States in August 1970 to mark the 50th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. Fast forwarding to the 80’s to current times women’s roles are ever evolving. Modern day women want it all. The right to vote and decide the right to work at a prosperous career and the right to raise a family all the while doing it. Women have intersected almost every boy only group know to society.
Works Cited
- Lee, Lexa W. “The Lives of Women in the Early 1900s.” Synonym, 27 June 2018, classroom.synonym.com/the-lives-of-women-in-the-early-1900s-12083174.html.
- “Modern Day Gender Roles.” History of Employment in Gender Roles, historyofgenderrolesinemployment.weebly.com/modern-day-gender-roles.html.
- “Societal Roles and Expectations through the 1940’s-50’s.” Role of Women during the 1940’s, americanhistory1940-50.blogspot.com/p/role-of-women-during-1940s.html.
- “What Was Life Like for Women in 1900?” Reference, IAC Publishing, www.reference.com/history/life-like-women-1900-1fa9ed9e8daab684.
