women and wwi

Sabrina Kureshy
European History
Pugliese E
March 5, 2009
Response #6

Women and WWI

WWI, as bad a time it was in history, had a somewhat positive outcome in the gender equality department. Women in some nations, like Germany, were granted suffrage post-WWI. Like wartime in pre-WWI Europe, WWI saw a similar increase in the role/participation of women in industry. Women were now earning an income and as a result, were experiencing a life that was much more independent than the life of a domestic homemaker.

I think it is interesting that a mere 60 or so years ago, women were enjoying little independence and were instead, only exposed to this independency during times of turmoil, warfare and chaos. In fact, it is a very strange connection, yet it makes sense. The world has come incredibly be far from where it was 100 years ago and even during WWI. Gender roles had always been clearly defined. Only when there was a significant need to interrupt the boundaries of gender roles, did women enjoy more independence because of their exposure to the ‘working world’.

While women today are much more independent and more prominent in the business world, there still exists this very fine line between the role of women and that of men, and I don’t know that we can ever transcend this line. It is something that is embedded not only in the culture in society of America and the world, but it is almost an inherent gene in our body that allows these gender roles to live on in the modern world, in a discrete and much altered way. I’m certainly not convinced that we’ve reached a point where stereotypical gender roles no longer exist. And this is where we must draw the subtle yet crucial difference between equality and gender roles. History has shown that, in the past, these two overlapped. Today however, I feel fairly confident when I say that there is a sense of equality, of course I’m only speaking for America (certainly not other places in the world). While women share equality in the eyes of the law, etc., there still exists the stereotype that women stay at home and men go out into the workforce and are the breadwinners. I don’t ever think that these stereotypes will disappear.