Conclusion

     Since the World Wars, many women like Virginia Hall have worked as spies in foreign countries. They contributed to their country as much as they could. During the World War Ⅱ, women were as significant as men so that feminist movement was developed rapidly. They were no longer property of men. After struggling for a long time, women eventually gain self-confidence and respect. Nowadays, more and more organizations and charities are still trying to guarantee women’s legal rights. Participation of women in politics is expending. Women’s efforts during the World Wars could never be erased.     

Women's lives were impacted by wars

     In the past, women were always discriminated by men, which made them lack of protection and equal rights. During the world wars, many women served in the army without any pay. At first, many people in America didn’t want to women work in the armies; some military officers thought it seems that women including in the army just waste of time. Two major group, Catholic Church and army itself, opposite idea that women join into the army strongly; but there were also some people support that idea (Permeswarn 95-6).

     I have seen a Chinese movie called the Flowers of War which shows the period during the “Rape of Nanking”, known as “Second Sino-Japanese War” as well. This movie talks about people find a church which makes sanctuary for them to go through the violent invasion. There are fourteen charming prostitutes pretend to be a group of incorrect convent schoolgirls to meet with Japanese soldiers at the Japanese Army’s victory celebration, which is a self-sacrificing decision. At first, these prostitutes are despised by those pure convent girls. Thus, when these schoolgirls are going to sacrifice, the prostitutes could have left and ignored these girls. But they decided to pretend the convents girls, cutting their hair and taking off makeup while those girls are sent to a secure place by truck. I was shocked by their courage since I thought the past Chinese women should be elegant and delicate. So I wondered what situation could make a woman strong than ever. In my opinion, I agreed and support the idea that women join into the army so that they were changed.

     Before women involved into the wars, the lives of women were as normal as water. I remember my grandmother told me the life she was in the wartime that she woke up early every day morning, and then she prepared the breakfast to her kids and parents. Since my grandfather was gone to war, there was just my grandmother to maintain the family. It was harsh to a weak woman. In order to have money to survive, my grandmother worked in a cloth factory; every day after she finished the breakfast and then she went to work. Since the men all went for the war, there were only women in the factory which my grandmother worked; they went to work 8:30 in the morning and went back to home after 8:00 at night, but they worked with low pay, even sometime the factory didn’t pay for them. There were no laws to protect their rights, so even they worked hard in the factory, if the owner of factory didn’t want to pay to them, they could do nothing. After my grandmother finished her work in the factory, she still needed to go back to home to do all the housework and take care of her kids and parents. That was the daily life she had. I think that women in a low social status not just happened in China, it also happened in Europe or United State; this kind of corrupt thought was around the whole world. It seems like a theorem that women have lower status than men and they needed to serve men.
     After the end of World War II, it made important change of the United State; one of the huge changes was woman. Since large of number women tended to join the military that the largest change for the society. If women who join into the military were treated well; they had their special uniforms, their own offices, and equal pay. There was another changes show up on the women that they took place of their husbands on the front home. There were about 6.3 million married or single working women entered the work force during the war, which was the popular symbol that women abandoned their “traditional work” and got into the real industries (“Social changes during the war”).According the data online, women’s employment rates increased during WWI, from 23.6% of the working age population in 1914 to between 37.7% and 46.7% in 1918, it is difficult to imagine that many women servicers moved into the jobs created in the industries (“World War I: 1914-1918”).  

     On the BBC, there are four historians published their opinion about the most change life for women because of WWI. Two of them think the rights of votes for women is the most change, one of them thinks the health area is the biggest improvement and the last one thinks develop new skill and gain freedom is the most change for women (“How did WWI most change life for women?”). So, how do you do? Do you agreed which one, or you have your own opinion on it? I agree with the right of vote and gain more freedom. In my own opinion, I think the most change of women after war means what the women actually get from the war is extremely different from before. Since there was no many rights for women before the wars, even the most basic rights; they were despised by men before. After the end of the wars, after the women made the huge contribution for the country; they gained their basic rights and freedom, especially the right of vote they didn’t have before and they did no need to restrain by other people.
     In a conclusion, women get what they want after the war, such as rights, respect, etc. Indeed, they gain these thing by themselves; as May Craig said in his speech at the Women’s National Press Club in 1944: “The war has given women a chance to show what they can do in the new world, and they have done well”, they did well and helped a lot in the army. They created their new world (Women Come to the Front").

                                                                      Work citied
Sources:
 Permeswaran, Yashila. "The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps: A Compromise to Overcome the Conflict of Women Serving in the Army." 42.1 (2008): 95. History Reference Center. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.
"Social Changes during the War." Digital History, n.d. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.
"World War I: 1914-1918." N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.
"How Did WW1 Most Change Life for Women?" BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.
"Women Come to the Front." War, Women, and Opportunity. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.

Lives of women in the wars

     During WWI and World War II, women didn’t think wars just need strong men, they also need women; “it wasn’t my brother’s country, or my husband’s country; it was my country as well. And so this war wasn’t just their war; and I needed to serve in it”, as Beatrice Hood Stroup said that express her feeling about women serve in army (Permeswarn 95). Because of a large number of women volunteered in the military, U.S. Congress established the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), whose had many influences, even it have impact today (Permeswarn 95).
     So how were their lives during the wars?
     In Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, their purpose is “making available to the national defense the knowledge, skill, and special training of the women of the nation,” so before they joined into the army, they needed to train about two months that would improve their basic knowledge and skills. The average age of women who joined into the WAAC was almost around 25 years old; all of them were graduated from college and had work experiences (Bellafaire). The first women’s training center was Iowa, which opened on July 20, 1942; some of women soldiers needed to study in the six-week Candidate School, but some of enlisted women needed to take a four-week basic training course (“67^th WAAC Detachment”). The Women’s Army Auxiliary Crops was very successful and it showed how important the women in the wars.

      Also, another reason why the women were so important for the military is they nursed injured soldiers and encouraged them get well recovery. During 18^th century, women did not serve in an organization, but in 1899 congress established a professional organization for the army nurses called Nurse Corps. There were about 21,000 female nurses served in the Army Nurse Crops in November of 1918 ,and there were four hundreds three nurses on active duty in WWI ("Army Nurses of World War I"). World War I marked a new era that movement of women got out of home and into the social public; they began seeking higher education and equal rights. In the Vietnam War, the army did not limited women get their achievement, and encouraged them get the equal educations as the army officers(Tomblin).
     Some women even worked as soldiers and spies, which was common during the World War. According to the National Women’s History Museum, there were about 4,500 women worked for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during the World War II, such as Virginia Hall, Elizabeth Thorpe, Maria Gulovich and Julia Child (Trosclair). One of the most famous and most honored of all woman spies in Office of Strategic Services is Virginia Hall from Baltimore. When she was young, she worked as an agent for French; unfortunately, she lost her legs in winter of 1941. After she lost her legs, she transferred to the OSS as a radio operator. She rather to serve her country than become a foreign service officer. She monitored German troop movements and looked for the place in French to get supplies for the French Resistance and other OSS agents could drop by parachute from Allied planes ("National Women's History Museum").

     In later Vietnam War, “non-military women also served important roles. They provided entertainment and support to the troops through the USO, the American Red Cross, and other humanitarian organizations” (“The women of Vietnam War”). The women nurses who served in Vietnam should have several months experience and they were belted by the nurses who have already had about 20 year experiences. Because of the medevac systems were used in this war to save injury soldiers who need the medicinal assistance, which made nurses faced more patients. They were requited to make quick decision of who was save first; it was very difficult to these nurses. These nurses worked about twelve hours per day and six days per week when a mass incident occurred. Sometimes, they volunteered their time to talk to the injury soldiers, went to the local hospital to offer the civilian medical servers or to teach classes in hygiene ("The women of the Vietnam War: Nurses”). The Vietnam War shows how difficult live the women follower had, their lives were not better than the soldiers’.          
     In a word, women’s lives in the army were very harsh and strict, but they didn’t even complain that and they did as well as men. They helped and supported their countries, because they were part of it; they also helped themselves to gain more honors and respect. These wars gave the opportunities which women made contributions of the county.  It was a significant event that women stated get into publish; it also means the social status of women were changed by themselves.

 

                                                                         Work citied
Permeswaran, Yashila. "The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps: A Compromise to Overcome the Conflict of Women Serving in the Army." 42.1 (2008): 95. History Reference Center. Web. 4 Mar. 2014. 
Bellafaire, Judith A. "The Women's Army Corps: A Commemoration of World War II Service." N.p., 17 Feb. 2005. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.
"67TH WAAC Detachment." Adjutant General's School, n.d. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.
"Army Nurses of World War I (documentary)." YouTube. Ed. Anthony V. Rotolo, David Kinsey, and Frank Knapp. YouTube, 24 June 2013. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
Tomblin, Barbara Brooks. "Kara Dixon Vuic . Officer, Nurse, Woman: The Army Nurse Corps in the Vietnam War . (War/Society/Culture.) Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 2010. Pp. Xii, 271. $50.00." The American Historical Review 116.5 (2011): 1534. Print
Trosclair, Carroll. "OSS Female Spies in WWII." Suite. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.
"National Women's History Museum." Education & Resources. NWHM, n.d. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.
"The Women of Vietnam War: Nurses." The Vietnam Center and Archive: Exhibits - Women's History Month. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.


 

 

Introduction

     The idea that women are inferior to men hasn’t changed over time, they were allowed to stay at home, take care of their children and husbands and do all the housework; the housewives were lacking of legal rights. During the 18^th to 19^th century, lots of wars happened in the United State, the roles of women were very important to theses wars since that time. After their husbands leave to war, they not only as mothers at home, but also as fathers at home at the same time; some of them join into the army as the nurses, but after their husband died, they also took up the guns and took place their husbands. For many women, wars were very harsh to them because they lose their families and lives. However, no matter how hard they might suffer, war could actually be the opportunity to increase their social status and gain their rights.
     The first group of women who joined into military was in 1775-1783, during the Revolutionary War. Many of them followed their husbands into the army with the permissions from the commanding officers; most of them were laundresses, cooks and nurses (“Time Line: Women in the U.S. Military”). Women were very helpful and also played an essential role to this war. The women who followed the army were called “camp followers”, most of them joined into the army in order to seek safety, shelter, and work ("Heroes of 76 Camp Followers"). After the Revolutionary War, more and more women were willing to join into the military. During the Spanish-American War in 1898, about 1,500 American women served as nurses in the Army hospitals to support the war. Also during the WWI and WW, women were allowed to join into the army legally, there were over 30,000 participated these wars and about 400 died in the wars (“Time Line: Women in the U.S. Military”).

     According to the Time Line: Women in the U.S. Military; there are also some famous woman soldiers joined into the US military during 19^th century. For example, Deborah Sampson joined into the General Washington’s army in 1782, and serve the army more than one year which as excellent as man; during the War of 1812, Mary Marshall and Mary Allen served about one year aboard the USS United State; during the Mexican War, Elizabeth Newcom, the woman who disguised as a man march into the winter camp. From these examples we can know that when the women joined into the army, they were not women anymore. They also need to pick up weapons and against with the enemies as brave as men (“Time Line: Women in the U.S. Military”).
     Because of the participation of women in these wars, which help their country a lot. On the one hand, the wars were much easier than before; on another hand, women changed their social position since that time. In a word, women helped to support the wars, the wars helped them grow their legal rights.


                                                                     Work citied
"Time Line: Women in the U.S. Military." Time Line: Women in the U.S. Military. The Colonial Williamsling Foundation, 2008. Web. 2014.
"Heroes of 76 Camp Followers." National Sojourners. N.p., 2009. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.