How much impact did the Second World War have on work and employment in the years 1939 – 45?
The Second World War was a total war. This means that all civilian, resources and infrastructure are involved in the war. Work and employment in Britain would be expected to be significantly impacted upon by the war. According to the Cambridge dictionary employment is the fact of someone being paid to work for a company or organization, whereas work is an activity, such as a job, that a person uses physical or mental effort to do, usually for money. Since, work and employment is related to civilians it would be impacted.
The most common job during the war was to be a soldier. The military conscription of young men which was reintroduced from the First
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One of the main factors which contribute to the increase of women working was the conscription of women. With the outbreak of war and most of the men fighting against fascism, as shown in the article called ‘Women under Fire’ by Carol Harris the National Service act made conscription of single women aged 20-30 legal on 8th December 1941. Later this inclusivity was removed and by mid-1943 almost 90% of single women, 80% of married women and older women were working to support the war …show more content…
John D Clare shows us that there was a growth in Trade Unions and strikes as the new wave of socialism caused workers to not put up with the appalling conditions, and used their indispensability to negotiate better conditions and wages. This was a good thing for the workers but for the owners of factories this was not good as it cost the company money from the economic disruptions strikes caused and having to increase wages or spend money on facilities. Also, the war disrupted the recruitment and training of workers creating long-term bad effects on the quality of British workmanship and
How Social and Economic Changes were effected by World War II shape American modern life?
Despite the massive arms stockpile that had been amassed by both sides of the conflict both sides ran short and had to drastically increase their workforce and number of hours that they worked. In Britain this was achieved by the formation of a three party coalition that has elements working to find solutions to this problem. The shortage of workers was largely due to the lack of men in the workforce as they were almost all enlisted in the army as soldiers. The deficit grew as the war went on when more and more men were conscripted and enlisted. A new workforce was needed to work in the jobs that they filled. Female workers largely filled a massive amount of these positions with a smaller number of prisoners of war doing farming work. For the first time women worked in large numbers in industrial factories, producing weapons and munitions for the men on the front lines. They often worked in difficult and dangerous conditions
During World War II, thousands of women in various nations were deeply involved in volunteer work alongside men. Before World War II, the women’s role was simply to be a wife to her husband, a mother to her children, and a caretaker to the house (Barrow). As World War II raged on, women made enormous sacrifices for their family, and also learnt new jobs and new skills. Women were needed to fill many “male jobs”, while men went off to fight in the war. Women served with distinction in The Soviet Union, Britain, Japan, United States, and Germany and were urged to join armed forces, work in factories, hospitals, and also farms to support the soldiers fighting the war. During this time, women took on the dual
One of the biggest roles of women in the second world war was working war factories. these were regular factories that had been converted to help the war effort. For example instead of making cars they would make tanks or instead of clothing the
Before the World War II, many women only held jobs in the house providing for their children, husband, and the needs that came with taking care of the household, but during the war, this completely changed. Many women were given new opportunities consisting of new jobs, new skills, new challenges, and greater chances to do things that were once only of imagination to them. Women made the war especially possible with taking over the jobs that men would usually do, but could not do because of the war. One of the first things that encouraged women to take on jobs of the men who went off to war was the propaganda. Propaganda consisted of films, radio, and print. These advertisements used showed women fighting in the army and many working in
Men were drafted out to fight in the war in large numbers which contributed to unemployment figures creating jobs for others. Those that previously were skilled, high paid labourers and worked in industries such as welding etc. were forced to sign up to the military.
Children as young as 4-5 could be spotted selling newspapers. During the war many jobs that women and children were both banned from previously had a large gap left in the workforce. Factories were made to charge child labour laws, through the war these laws were suddenly gone leaving factories to hire children and women. Children, like women, worked on ammunition factories. With the war becoming very popular, teens and adolescents lied about their age and went into the military. Many young men/ boys fought in the war. Their dedication helped to change the tide of the war in the direction of the American allies along with the support of the men. Another way children would help was through helping on family farms and locally to grow produce, this labour replaced their fathers and or
During World War II there were many job opportunities for women. The war opened new doors during a time of depression. As husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers went to fight in the war the women went to work at factories, offices, and even on military bases. These women went to work in paying jobs that were usually for men. Many women became journalists, photographers and broadcasters. They were covering the biggest story ever, the men that were at war and the women that were at home doing the man’s work. Women even joined the military. They were not put in front line positions but they did important jobs and many lost their lives. During the war it was not only the white
It’s no understatement to say that the War messed up many countries’ economies. The UK and Germany went through different
WWI was a trying, and difficult time for all people, especially with the unnecessary casualties, but it was also one of the moments in history where women finally got to step up to the plate after a lot of discrimination against their gender, a thing no can control. When men had gone to fight in the war, women were recruited in abundance. There was some clash between whether women should or should not have jobs that were considered “men's work”, but ever since the Conscription Crisis, women workers were massively needed. Which meant manual labor such as working heavy machinery in engineering. There were also many other jobs that were opened up to women, such as tram conducting,
World War II was the catalyst that changed the opportunities available to women and eventually the way they were regarded as a viable workforce. Suddenly women throughout the United States were pushing themselves to their limits to support the war effort. Women were fulfilling jobs and responsibilities that many previously believed to be impossible for their gender. Opportunities were opened in steel plants, ammunition factories, and even the United States military. As the war progressed the number of male workers declined dramatically. Society had no choice but to turn to the mothers, sisters, and daughters of our nation for help. The results for each woman varied
In the economic aspect, the war ended the Great Depression. (Winkler,1986) In 1940, money was being spent to aid the war effort and in return boosted the American economy. (Winkler,1986) The production of war necessities such as weapons opened up door for the unemployed. (Winkler,1986) Millions of unemployed Americans returned to work to make the weapons of war needed to protect the United States. (Winkler,1986) “During the war 17 million new civilian jobs were created, industrial productivity increased by 96 percent, and corporate profits after taxes doubled.” (Goodwin,1992) War needs directly consumed over one-third of the output of industry causing a slight decrease in consumer goods production. (Goodwin,1992) U.S economy converted to wartime production therefore most consumer goods were
As more men entered the armed forces, women needed to replace them. By the war's end, hundreds of thousands of women had entered the workforce, many of them in traditionally masculine occupations such as engineering, munitions, transport, business, and eventually even the military. The war produced a leap in women's employment from twenty-six percent in the workforce in 1914 to thirty-six percent by 1918. One million women worked in munition industries, forty-thousand served as nurses, and twenty-thousand joined the Women's Land Army as agricultural workers (Marwick, 1977). For the young and the middle-class, work outside their homes was indeed a new experience. On the other hand, working-class women were used to paid work, but the type of work was new. Many left low-skill, low-wage jobs, especially in domestic service, for better paying skilled labor in factories and workshops (Kent, 1993).
The role of women in war has varied significantly throughout British History. During world War 1 womens role was constricted as many worked in the industry of textiles , knitting and munitions. This said they played a pivotal role in the war effort as 23.8 million in britain were all working. Voluntary and paid positions were taken up as unfamiliar roles to women, Nevertherless this was recquired in order to sustain the living of many families. World War 1 illustrated the capability of women in wokring across a variety of fields. However the effort from women was arguably taken out of context. Despite the rise in pay , women still earned less then men. They held the responisibility of working as a generation of men went to fight. This covered munitions, police patrols and even nursing.Women worked in horendous conditions and accidents were far too frequent in factories. A TNT plant killed 73 people and also leading to the destruction of nearby homes. Furthermore the collective effort was extraordinary , the workers of one factory in Gloucestershire within the four years filled over 17 million shells(BBC world war 1).Opportunities in civil service increased by 1,751 %.
Firstly, there was a significant impact on social classes. For the working class, the war gave the