The following discussion however will be dealing with the role that the women played in the Second World War.

Introduction

The Second World War 2 was meant to liberate many states and countries from the colonial rules. They wanted to become independent by forming their own governments and drafting the constitution that favored them. They also wanted to have the freedom to take full responsibilities and roles in their mother states rather than being controlled. The other reason for the break of the war is that some countries wanted to stamp the authority by sending a message that they were the super powers who were supposed to see to it that the world was orderly.

The following discussion however will be dealing with the role that the women played in the Second World War.

Discussion

The place of women in the society was assumed to be at home and this applied to all the most of them. They were supposed to do all the household work such as cooking, washing and taking are of the young ones. This was the usual social construction of assigning people roles and responsibilities according to their gender. They were considered to be weaker than the men and that is the reason why they were expected to perform the easiest tasks in the society. In many societies, there was no great distinction between the roles that the children played and those played by the women. They were therefore treated in the same category with the children.

Some societies did not give the women a chance to express their preference or4 their opinions. According to the society, they were supposed to be the followers of what the men considered to be the norms. They were therefore not involved in the decision making of the society as they were not thought to bring any useful ideas due to the perception that the society held concerning them.

As a result of those beliefs about the position of the women in the society, they were accorded unequal treatment comparing with men. For instance, young men would be given a chance to seek education and even acquire property, but the women in many instances did not get an opportunity to acquire education or even the inheritance from their parents.

However, during the break of the Second World War, the stand of the society on women began to melt and the perception was slowly changing. Most of the men were involved in the war and therefore the women were supposed to take much of the responsibilities in their homes to see to it that everything went on well (Margaret 2008). The men and the society in general came to realize that unless they incorporated the women in the war, they were going to fail. They therefore had to soften their stand on them and reconstruct their culture. With millions of men involved in the war, women were to be of much use to work in the industries to perpetuate the production of both the human goods and the weapons that were to be used in the war.

In Britain for instance, women worked in munitions factories where they were involved in the knitting of the socks and the cloths that the soldiers were required to use. At the same time, they were involved in offering services at the Red Cross organizations in taking care of the injured soldiers. The main reason however for this kind of roles were for the women to get finances to take care of their families as the men were not around to offer that kind of care.

Nursing was one of the main services that the women played during the Second World War. This was especially in Britain and America. They were offered special training that ensured that they were qualified to meet the challenges of the injured. Others were also trained to be counselors who would help the soldiers to recover from the traumatic experiences of the war (Margaret 2008). The environment that the soldiers also operated posed a lot of danger to their health and this called for more services of offering medication to help them to overcome the infections. Most of them were as a result of the chemicals that were released from the deadly weapons that were being used. For this reason, there was high demand for nurses and bearing in mind that they were the most available, they were given this chance to ensure that the health of the soldiers was good. Therefore, the women were of great help, though they were not involved directly to fight, they offered what was so important for any soldier to fight.

The next great role was in the manufacturing industries. By the time of the Second World War many countries such as the Britain, America and Russia had recognized the important role that the women played in the society. They also knew that for the war to succeed, they needed vehicles, warships, weapons such as guns and intelligence services. For this matter, there was a need to educate portion of the women in those societies so that they would qualify in the production of these equipment. This was however considered the work of men especially during the First World War.

The role of the women was therefore to ensure the supply of the equipment needed by the soldiers in the war was adequate. Some of them are said to be drivers as well and therefore were very important when it came to the transportation of food, water and weaponry to the point where the soldiers were located.

As war intensified, there was much need for the backs up to help the men overcome their oppressors. Women on the other hand were gaining confidence in the societal roles due to their involvement in different tasks. They had also learnt a lot about the tactics of war out of observation. Most of the sates realizing the potentials that the women had and the help they could offer decided to offer them training in the offensive and defensive tactics. They acquired the military skills including how to use the weapons. This therefore led to thousands of the women in America and many parts of Europe to be involved in the war as soldiers (Stoff 2006)

This brought a total change in the perception of women. They were now doing exactly what the men were capable of doing and even with much ease. Some of them served as Army commanders in ensuring that instructions were followed for there to be a success in the war. They ceased to be under-dogs in the societies and were now accorded with much respect being involved not only in the decision making processes but also in the implementations of the administration policies.

The power of women began to rise in the Second World War for the reason that they were now being employed to offer different professions. Even though the wages that they received were not equal to the one received by men, they were more financially stable than during the First World War.

In Germany, the some of skilled women taken from the concentration camps were given very difficult tasks of acting as secret agents. They were required to join a certain organization known at the Special Operation Executive (SOP). The kind of work that they were expected to perform here was not only dangerous but also threatened their own lives. To be a secet agent, the women were required to get into the enemies territories to obtain the information of what they are strategizing. The women had to be creative and skilled for them to succeed in this kind of dangerous role. Some of them would pose as prostitutes who would go to the clubs where the enemies relaxed after war. Because they were attractive, these soldiers would be enticed and in the process of interaction, they would engage kin the conversation about the war.

The women were very tactful in that they would pretend to be taking alcohol while in the real sense they were either taking water or drinking sparingly. The soldiers on the other hand would get fooled and end up getting drunk. In this state, the women took the advantage of getting the information from them by asking them where and when they planned to attack. They would also get to know the method they planned to use and even the number of soldiers that would be involved.

With all these kind of information, they would return home and provide it to the commander of the Army. This helped them to strategize and to plan ahead of the attack to counter any kind of war that may arise. This information indicates that though most of the women were not directly involved in the war, they were very vital when it came to the dissemination of the information. Without that, many countries would not have won in the war since they would have been ambushed by enemies and also that they would not have known what they needed to plan on.

In Germany, Hitler believed that his culture that was referred to as Aryan, was superior than any other culture that ever existed. The people here were perceived as more intelligent and creative than any other and this was seen when they annihilated about six million Jews whom they considered inferior. The role of women in this kind of culture is that they were expected to devote themselves in the reproduction of this ‘pure’ culture to bring out children who would be used in the war. Intermarriages with other races and ethnic groups was therefore rejected and this was the main reason probably they killed the Jews.

Many nations however were really opposed to war and this called for increased resistance. They were calling for the end of the oppression that the war placed in many nations. Such a country was Poland which engaged in a lot of street resistance. The role of women was great and made a lot of impact. The women were expected to get into streets carrying banners that had writings that condemned the whole issue of war. They were involved in the resistance movements that were being appreciated in many other countries to call on the colonials to stop their cruelty and give freedom to the people.

This could have been brought by the reason that the war had really affected the women negatively. Most of their men had died in the war making them to acquire the status of being widowed. This was a great blow to many of them who were left with the responsibility of taking care of the family and managing the properties that were left behind (Robert 2004). The other agony that the women faced is the fact that the women also lost their sons in the war. Many countries expected the healthy sons to be recruited and being used to fight in the war. This was demonstrated from the concentration camps in Germany where women were forced to part with their sons. To some, this was the last time they saw and heard from their sons.

That was the main reason why most women joined hands in many parts of the world to protest and force the oppressors to consider bringing an end to war. There was also the use of the print media to send the message that people were tired of the war and that something needed to be done. This actually bore fruits as many activist groups who were fighting for the rights of people began to emerge in colonial countries to force them to end their cruel rules and give people their freedom and rights.

The twentieth century so the growth of the film and the music industry. This was especially for America and other countries in Europe. This brought the rise of celebrities especially the female. Celebrities enjoy the fact that they are liked and have a lot of influence in the society. They are the initiators of many behaviors such as the way people dress, talk and perceive the world. Most of the people are seen to imitate the behavior of these people.

The female celebrities in America wrote and acted films that condemned the Nazi situation in Germany. One of such women was called Lillian Hellman whose play known as the Rhime in 1941 warned the rise of the Nazis (Carol 2000). This is owing to the fact that the Nazis were very cruel especially towards the Jews and any other people who were considered to be weak and ineffective in Germany. These people especially the old, women and children were in great pain and danger as many of them were killed in gas chambers. The rise of the female celebrities however, sought to address this kind of evil and forcing them to be considerate and stop the murder of innocent people.

Many soldiers after the war were very tired and depressed at the same time. They needed people to entertain them and make them relax. The Camp Shows were used to entertain the troops in America to make them forget relax by providing them with a kind of therapy. This was important since many of them were suffering from traumatic experiences and post-war traumas after the loss of important friends. Most of the people who were used were women singers who had beautiful bands that were very entertaining. Women offered also the emotional support to the soldiers by encouraging them not to lose hear in the war as they would eventually win.

Conclusion

The role of the women in the Second World War was enormous and indisputable. They performed great tasks such as offering different services especially as nurses who would nurse the wounds of the injured soldiers. The women also took care of the families and homes left to them by their husbands who were busy fighting in the war. Without the support of the women, many countries would not have won the war, as most of them were used in the most dangerous tasks that are aimed at providing information by acting as the secret agents. They helped in the manufacturing of the weapon that were to be used in the war and were also in the textile industries making cloths for the soldiers.

Reference:

Regis, Margaret.(2008): When Our Mothers Went to War: An Illustrated History of Women in World War II.Seattle: Nav Publishing. ISBN 978-1-87732-05-0.

Laurie S. Stoff. (2006): They Fought for the Motherland: Russia’s Women Soldiers in World War I And the Revolution.

Harris, Carol (2000). Women at War 1939-1945: The Home Front. Stroud: Sutton Publishing Limited. ISBN 0-7509-2536-1

Gildea, Robert. (2004). Marianne in Chains: Daily Life in the Heart of France during the German Occupation NY.

Laurie S. Stoff. (2006)They Fought for the Motherland: Russia’s Women Soldiers in World War I and the Revolution.