World War Two

Short reflection paper
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In the text of Ruth Roach Pierson, women contributed a significant role in the World War 2. The largest contribution that women made during the war came from their unpaid labor at home and providing volunteering work. During and after the war, women made important changes. At home, they prevented wastes, enforced rationing, saved and gathered resources that could be recycled to be used for war production. In the countryside, women’s organizations assisted wives and their daughters to participate in farming; they raised gardens, picked fruits, made hay, drove tractors, and increased farming production. Also, women participated in volunteer services through local women volunteer service programs. According to the work of Ann Krylova, men were taken to fight the war while women faced problems during the war. Government encouragement and the needs to cater for their families influenced women to get out of their homes in order to seek work to sustain their families financially. While majority of women worked in agriculture, transport, industry including other civilian roles, they worked double shifts to replace men’s labor. Young women saw themselves as the citizen soldiers. They increased military production, and many worked in medical units. Women’s determination changed people’s attitude, and thus were considered as potential as men.
Regarding the two readings, what is most surprising is the determination that women had during this period; this was a new and unique spirit. Through their newly enkindled determination, women proved and maintained that they performed work well and even better than men in certain cases. They proved that being a military does not imply that one cannot be a woman, and thus they contradicted a common belief that it is not natural for a woman to wage war. They proved their feminine, beauty, determination, capability, bravery and heroic. It can be seen that the period during and after World War 2 was significant because it changed the role of women, which completely changed the ...