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 18th to 19th 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 19th 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.
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