Question

How was life similar and/or different for American women before, during, and after the war? Did the war change the role of women in American society?
Select and view one of the four videos listed below from the Veterans History Project.

- Meda Brendall, a single mother who worked as a shipyard welder
- Ann Caracristi, a civilian recruited to work as a Japanese code breaker
- Violet Hill Gordon, a WAC stationed in the European theater
- Jeanne Holme, who became the first woman general in the Air Force

After viewing your video selection, do more research on your own and write a well-crafted essay to address the question above.

Answer 1

Life was very difficult for American  women in general before and even after the second world war, and the war greatly had an effect on many things. The life of American women was one of the things it change. As the end of the second world war came, life for America women changed for the better, as women became more important and more than just household workers. Women became more important and were more greatly respected and allowed more opportunities thanks to the second world war. In other other words, the life of American women differed before, during, and after the war in the sense that it got better for them and they were treated with new levels of respect as time passed on.

   In the beginning before the war, most women were expected to be 'housewives' or to do jobs that were "woman" like jobs that didn't have to do with physically hard work. This included working as an domestic servant. However, by the 1940s, women were being called by the Armed Forces to aid them. The difference between the beginning and during the war for American women is that once the second world war came, women had more importat job opportunities that allowed them to be seen as more "strong" and "manly".

  The difference between life for American during the war after the war is that it  got better for American women. As during the war, women came to play a large role in the military and gender roles changed, after the war. The women who served during the war led to impact the women afterwards to expect more from their lives, and to make a better name for themselves. Although it didn't happen quickly,  their participation in the war eventually won the recognition of many people and men began to more greatly respect women and bring equality to both sexes. In others words, the years after second world war was not only harder for women as they worked to gain more respect, but was more better, as they found themselves received greater amounts of recognition, respect, and equality as time passed.

Answer 2

Before the war, women were treated like housewives, only allowed to do easy work and weren't allowed to do anything else because it was believed to be the work for men alone. During the war woman were respected more and gender roles were changed, women started gaining attention, and after the war, although it was difficult, women found themselves deserving more from life and being recognized as important people in america just as men.