Women's History in America Term Paper

Feminism

War has always affected women, even though combat itself was normally not a part of the female experience. After the Industrial Revolution, the lives of women were increasingly altered in the presence of war. The Industrial Revolution changed the ways women worked and also changed the gender roles in the home. Post-Industrial Revolution wars involved women's voices and women's work far more than pre-Industrial Revolution wars. Early female experiences with wars showed that women served as helpers rather than as front-line fighters. Thus, women's roles within the military were overshadowed by their male counterparts. Women also continued to play into overall gender stereotypes and social norms. For example, the Spanish Civil War in 1898 saw the presence of hundreds of female military nurses. While this showed that women were becoming increasingly viable citizens in pre-suffrage United States, it also illustrates the slow social progress of women. Women's non-military work during early twentieth century wars remained in ancillary positions in textile mills. However, women's non-military work in such industrial settings led to the eventual relationship between feminism and the labor movement.

Things changed with World War One, as the United States Navy permitted the entry of some women as combatants. However, few if any of them received the full military status recognition that men received. More women did serve as nurses and in other helping positions during World War One, and were stationed as therapists abroad during the war. Women who did not serve in the military pursued work on the home front, and female-run small businesses began to flourish around this time. In fact, the flapper generation of the 1920s marked a clear departure from the traditional domestic roles of women, who were becoming increasingly independent.

The presence of women in the military increased again during World War Two, but…