HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

During both
world war A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...
s, women were required to undertake new roles by their respective national war efforts. Adams, R.J.Q. (1978). ''Arms and the Wizard. Lloyd George and the
Ministry of Munitions The Minister of Munitions was a British government position created during the First World War to oversee and co-ordinate the production and distribution of munitions for the war effort. The position was created in response to the Shell Crisis o ...
1915 - 1916'', London: Cassell & Co Ltd. . Particularly, Chapter 8: ''The Women's Part''.
Women across the world experienced severe setbacks as well as considerable societal progress during this timeframe.Wibben, Annick T R, and Jennifer Turpin. "Women and War." In Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace and Conflict, edited by Lester R. Kurtz. 2nd ed. Elsevier Science & Technology, 2008. The two World Wars hinged as much on industrial production as they did on battlefield clashes. With millions of men away fighting and with the inevitable casualties, there was a severe shortage of labour in a range of industries, from rural and farm work to urban office jobs. While some women managed to enter the traditionally male career paths, women, for the most part, were expected to be primarily involved in "duties at home" and "women's work," especially after the wars were over. On the other hand, the two wars also victimized women and subjected them to numerous incidences of sexual violence, abuse, and death. During
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, women in the
Western World The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.
, including
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, and the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, contributed to the war efforts on both the home fronts and the battlefields. Women’s employment rates skyrocket in domestic and industrial sectors.Greenwald, Maurine W. "Rosie the Riveter." In Encyclopedia of War and American Society, by Peter Karsten. Sage Publications, 2006. Nursing became one of the most popular professions in military employment during these years.Wagner, Nancy O'Brien. "Awfully Busy these Days: Red Cross Women in France during World War I." Minnesota History 63.1 (2012): 24-35. In Asia, women’s labor in the cotton and silk industries became essential for the economy.Hunter, Janet. "Japanese Women at Work, 1990-1920." History Today 43.49 (1993). Before 1914, only a few countries, including New Zealand, Australia, and several
Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...
n nations, had given women the right to vote (see
Women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
), but otherwise, women were minimally involved in the political process. Women’s participation in WWI fostered the support and development of the suffrage movement, including in the United States. During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, women’s contributions to industrial labor in factories which were located on the home fronts kept society and the military running while the world was in chaos. Women in the Western World also gained more opportunities to serve directly in their country's armed forces, which they had limited opportunity to in WWI. At the same time, women faced a significant amount of abuse during this time; women across Asia were systematically raped by the Japanese military, and Jewish women were physically abused, raped, and murdered in Nazi concentration camps across Europe.Steitz, Jerstin. "No ‘Innocent Victim’?: Sexual Violence Against Jewish Women during the Holocaust as Trope in Zeugin Aus Der Hölle." Women in German Yearbook 33 (2017): 101-27. The participation of women in the World Wars catalyzed the later recruitment of women in many countries' armed forces.Toktas, Sule. "Nationalism, Modernization, and the Military in Turkey: Women Officers in the Turkish Armed Forces." Oriente Moderno 23 (84) (2004): 247-67. Women’s participation in these wartime efforts exposed their commitment to serving their country and preserving national security and identity.


World War I


Europe

In Great Britain just before
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
there were 24 million adult women and 1.7 million worked in
domestic service A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service ...
, 200,000 worked in the
textile manufacturing Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...
industry, 600,000 worked in the clothing trades, 500,000 worked in commerce, and 260,000 worked in local and national government, including teaching. The British textile and clothing trades, in particular, employed far more women than men and were regarded as 'women's work'. By 1914 nearly. 5.09 million out of the 23.8 million women in Britain were working. Thousands worked in munitions factories (see Canary girl, Gretna Girls), offices and large hangars used to build aircraft. Women were also involved in knitting socks for the soldiers on the front, as well as other voluntary work, but as a matter of survival women had to work for paid employment for the sake of their families. Many women worked as volunteers serving at the
Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...
, encouraged the sale of
war bond War bonds (sometimes referred to as Victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an unpopular level. They are ...
s or planted "
victory garden Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit, and herb gardens planted at private residences and public parks in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Germany during World War I ...
s". The First World War gave women in Great Britain the opportunity to participate in the workforce, including assembly lines. In Great Britain, this was known as a process of "Dilution" and was strongly contested by the
trade unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
, particularly in the engineering and
ship building Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befor ...
industries. For the duration of both World Wars, women sometimes did take on skilled "men's work". However, in accordance with the agreement negotiated with the trade unions, women undertaking jobs covered by the Dilution agreement lost their jobs at the end of the First World War. Although women were still paid less than men in the workforce, pay inequalities were starting to diminish as women were now getting paid two-thirds of the typical pay for men, a 28% increase. However, the extent of this change is open to historical debate. In part because of female participation in the war effort Canada, the United States, Great Britain, and a number of European countries extended suffrage to women in the years after the First World War. British historians no longer emphasize the granting of woman suffrage as a reward for women's participation in war work. Historian Martin D. Pugh, argues that women’s suffrage was primarily determined by senior politicians. The suffragettes had been weakened, Pugh argues, by repeated failures before 1914 and by the disorganizing effects of war mobilization; therefore they quietly accepted these age-related restrictions, which were approved in 1918 by a majority of the War Ministry and each political party in Parliament. More generally, G. R. Searle (2004) argues that the British debate was essentially over by the 1890s, and that granting the suffrage in 1918 was mostly a byproduct of giving the vote to male soldiers. Women in Britain finally achieved suffrage on the same terms as men in 1928.
Nursing Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...
became almost the only area of female contribution that involved being at the front and experiencing the war. In Britain the
Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC; known as ''the QAs'') is the nursing branch of the British Army Medical Services. History Although an "official" nursing service was not established until 1881, the corps traces its heritage ...
,
First Aid Nursing Yeomanry The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (Princess Royal's Volunteer Corps) (FANY (PRVC)) is a British independent all-female registered charity formed in 1907 and active in both nursing and intelligence work during the World Wars. Its members wear a mili ...
and
Voluntary Aid Detachment The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) was a voluntary unit of civilians providing nursing care for military personnel in the United Kingdom and various other countries in the British Empire. The most important periods of operation for these units we ...
were all started before World War I. The VADs were not allowed in the front line until 1915. In other European countries, such as in the 1918
Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...
, more than 2,000 women fought in the paramilitary Women's Red Guards. The only belligerent to deploy female combat troops in substantial numbers was the
Russian Provisional Government The Russian Provisional Government ( rus, Временное правительство России, Vremennoye pravitel'stvo Rossii) was a provisional government of the Russian Republic, announced two days before and established immediately ...
in 1917. Its few "
Women's Battalion Women's Battalions (Russia) were all-female combat units formed after the February Revolution by the Russian Provisional Government, in a last-ditch effort to inspire the mass of war-weary soldiers to continue fighting in World War I. In the spri ...
s" fought well, but failed to provide the propaganda value expected of them and were disbanded before the end of the year. In the later
Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...
, the
Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
would also employ women infantry. Women living in present-day Slovakia, which at the time of the First World War was under the rule of the Habsburg monarchy, did not always uphold the pro-war attitude that dominated throughout central Europe.Dudekova Kovacova, Gabriela. " the Silent Majority: Attitudes of Non-Prominent Citizens at the Beginning of the Great War in the Territory of Today's Slovakia" Revue Des Études Slaves 88.4 (2017): 699-719. Furthermore, their dissenting attitudes towards war heightened especially when members of their own families, such as their husbands, were conscripted into the army. Women expressed their disapproval by creating feminist organizations such as the Hungarian Feminist’s Association to encourage pacifism. Habsburg monarchy women also expressed their disapproval through public protestation.


Asia

Thousands of migrants came from Asia to Europe during WWI in order to assist with the war efforts in Great Britain, with approximately 92,000 war workers coming from China alone.Koller, Christian. “Wartime Europe as Seen by Others – Indian and African Soldiers in Europe in WW1.” researchgate.net, January 2012, 507–18. European powers relied on a male labor force in winning the war, thus leaving families divided at home. In the years leading up to the First World War, the cotton and silk industries grew exponentially in Japan. More than 80% of Japanese female citizens worked in these textile industries during and nearing the end of WWI. Their working conditions were poor, as the female employees were subjected to malnutrition and serious illnesses such as tuberculosis while living together in unsanitary dormitories.


Canada

Over 2,800 women served with the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps during the First World War and it was during that era that the role of Canadian women in the military first extended beyond nursing. Women were given paramilitary training in small arms, drill, first aid and vehicle maintenance in case they were needed as home guards. Forty-three women in the Canadian military died during WWI.


The United States

Women became members of the social-welfare program entitled the American Red Cross. Women worked locally within their state by aiding traveling soldiers and raising money to support the war efforts. Furthermore, women serving for the America Red Cross also had the opportunity to serve in Europe, where the war was mostly taking place. Abroad, these women worked as nurses, recreational volunteers, chemists, and more. Additionally, more than 12,000 women enlisted in auxiliary roles in the United States Navy and Marine Corps during the First World War. About 400 of them died in that war.


World War II


The United States

During WWII, in total, 6 million women were added to the workforce in what resulted as a major cultural shift. With the men fighting in the wars, women were needed to take on responsibilities that the men had to leave behind. Women in World War II took on a variety of roles, from country to country. World War II involved global conflict on an unprecedented scale; the absolute urgency of mobilizing the entire population made the expansion of the role of women inevitable. Rosie the Riveter became an emblem of women’s dedication to the traditionally male labor during this time. With this expanded horizon of opportunity and confidence, and with the extended skill base that many women could now give to paid and voluntary employment, women's roles in World War II were even more extensive than in the First World War. By 1945, more than 2.2 million women were working in war industries, especially in munitions plants. They participated in the building of ships, aircraft, vehicles, and weaponry. Women also worked on farms, drove trucks, provided logistic support for soldiers and entered professional areas of work that were previously the preserve of men. In the Allied countries thousands of women enlisted as nurses serving in the front line units. According to historian D’Ann Campbell, “Between 1942 and 1945 140,000 women served in the WACs, 100,000 in the WAVES, 23,000 in the Marines, 13,000 in the SPARS, and 74,000 in the Army and Navy Nurse Corps”. Women became officially recognized as a permanent part of the U.S. armed forces after the war with the passing of the
Women's Armed Services Integration Act Women's Armed Services Integration Act () is a United States law that enabled women to serve as permanent, regular members of the armed forces in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and the recently formed Air Force. Prior to this act, women, with the ex ...
of 1948. The ability for women to be involved overseas opened doors for many underrepresented groups, including
Latinas Hispanic and Latino Americans ( es, Estadounidenses hispanos y latinos; pt, Estadunidenses hispânicos e latinos) are Americans of Spanish and/or Latin American ancestry. More broadly, these demographics include all Americans who identify as ...
, to serve their country. Out of one million African Americans serving in WWII, 600,000 of them were women. 4,000 of these women served in the Women's Army Corps and 330 of these women served as nurses. African American women also fought for African American rights through media, social activism, etc. A person's race was heavily divided and in the year 1943, there were a documented 242 violent events against African Americans regardless of whether they served in the war efforts or not. Additionally, the Second World War expanded labor employment opportunities for black women across the United States.Anderson, Karen Tucker. "Last Hired, First Fired: Black Women Workers during World War II." Journal of American History 69.1 (1982): 82-97. Specifically, industrial labor became more common among black females, as black female employment in the industrial sector increased by 11.5% during this time. Nearing the end of the war, black females working in industrial occupations were the first to be fired from their jobs; as a result, they then turned to occupations such as being maids or laundry pressers.


Europe

Several hundred thousand women in European countries served in combat roles, especially in anti-aircraft units. Many women served in the resistances of Yugoslavia, Poland, France, and Italy, and in the British SOE and American OSS which aided these. Germany had presented an ideal female role at home, but the urgent need for war production led to the hiring of millions of German women for factory and office work. Even so, the Nazi regime declared the role of women in German society to strictly fall along the lines of motherhood.Bock, Gisela. "Racism and Sexism in Nazi Germany: Motherhood, Compulsory Sterilization, and the State." Signs 8.3 (1983): 400-21. Yet, the role of motherhood was only offered to white, German blooded women because the Nazi regime promoted the sterilization of women for “reasons of racial hygiene”. Jewish women were encouraged to obtain an abortion in order to limit the increase of Jewish genetics, and a series of mass sterilizations occurred in Nazi concentration camps. Beyond mass sterilizations, women in concentration camps across Europe in the Second World War experienced sexual violence and abuse by many SS guards, though the notion that the camps fostered a systematic rape of its prisoners has not been affirmed by scholars. While other women were able to obtain jobs and new opportunities in other parts of the world during this time period, it is important to note that this was not the case for a majority of Jewish and even Gypsy women in Europe. Millions of Jewish women in the Holocaust were killed, and the Nazis also killed other women who belonged to groups they were committing genocide against, such as women with disabilities and
Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...
women.


Asia

A large number of women in Japan and Korea also performed industrial labor duties during the war. They helped make bombs and guns and airplanes, etc. Women, called comfort women, were forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army before and during World War II.Yōko, Hayashi. "Issues Surrounding the Wartime ‘Comfort Women’ Review of Japanese Culture and Society." Review of Japanese Culture and Society 11/12 (1999): 54-65. In other words, the Comfort Women were a part of a systematic rape used by Japan, especially among the armed forces in the Second World War. Korean women were especially used. The Japanese Imperial Army based these women within “Comfort Stations” near the battlefields in order to have sex with them. Aging from eleven to twenty years old, the Comfort Women were kidnapped from their homes in order to serve the Japanese army. In recent years, political elites in Japanese society have denied the systematic rape of the Comfort Women during the World War II period, including former Japanese Prime Minister Abe.Hayashi, Hirofumi. "Disputes in Japan Over the Japanese Military ‘Comfort Women’ System and its Perception in History." The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 617 (2008): 123-32. Despite recent controversy over this topic in Japanese politics and education, numerous researchers have proven that Japanese Comfort Women were subjected to sexual slavery and should be recognized for their unjust treatment.


Australia

Australian women during World War II played a larger role than they had during The First World War, when they primarily served as nurses and additional homefront workers. Many women wanted to play an active role in the war, and hundreds of voluntary women's auxiliary and paramilitary organisations had been formed by 1940. A shortage of male recruits forced the military to establish female branches in 1941 and 1942. Women entered roles which had traditionally been limited to men, but continued to receive lower wages.


Canada

Canadian women in the World Wars became indispensable because the World Wars were
total war Total war is a type of warfare that includes any and all civilian-associated resources and infrastructure as legitimate military targets, mobilizes all of the resources of society to fight the war, and gives priority to warfare over non-combata ...
s that required the maximum effort of the civilian population. While Canadians were deeply divided on the issue of conscription for men, there was wide agreement that women had important new roles to play in the home, in civic life, in industry, in nursing, and even in military uniforms. Historians debate whether there was much long-term impact on the postwar roles of women.Jean Bruce, ''Back the Attack!: Canadian Women During the Second World War, at Home and Abroad'' (Macmillan of Canada, 1985).


See also

*
Air Transport Auxiliary The Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) was a British civilian organisation set up at the start of the Second World War with headquarters at White Waltham Airfield in Berkshire. The ATA ferried new, repaired and damaged military aircraft between factori ...
(UK) *
Australian Women's Army Service The Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS) was a non-medical women's service established in Australia during the Second World War. Raised on 13 August 1941 to "release men from certain military duties for employment in fighting units" the servi ...
(World War II) * Australian Women's Land Army *
Canadian Women's Army Corps The Canadian Women's Army Corps was a non-combatant branch of the Canadian Army for women, established during the Second World War, with the purpose of releasing men from those non-combatant roles in the Canadian armed forces as part of expanding ...
– known as "CWACs" *
Dorothy Lawrence Dorothy Lawrence (4 October 1896 – 4 October 1964) was an English journalist who posed as a male soldier to report from the front line during World War I. In 1915, she went to France, where she managed to obtain a military uniform and a false ...
– British reporter who posed as a man in the First World War *
Female guards in Nazi concentration camps Aufseherin was the position title for a female guard in the Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Of the 50,000 guards who served in Nazi concentration camps, about 5,000 were women. In 1942, the first female guards arrived at Auschwitz an ...
*
First Aid Nursing Yeomanry The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (Princess Royal's Volunteer Corps) (FANY (PRVC)) is a British independent all-female registered charity formed in 1907 and active in both nursing and intelligence work during the World Wars. Its members wear a mili ...
(UK) – known as "FANYs" *
Himeyuri Students The , sometimes called "Lily Corps" in English, was a group of 222 students and 18 teachers of the Okinawa Daiichi Women's High School and Okinawa Shihan Women's School formed into a nursing unit for the Imperial Japanese Army during the Battle o ...
* Women in the military#History *
List of uprisings led by women Women-led uprisings are mass protests that are initiated by women as an act of resistance or rebellion in defiance of an established government. A protest is a statement or action taken part to express disapproval of or object an authority; most ...
*
Ochotnicza Legia Kobiet Voluntary Legion of Women ( pl, Ochotnicza Legia Kobiet (OLK)) was a voluntary Polish paramilitary organization, created by women in Lviv in late 1918. At that time possession of the city was contested by the Poles and Ukrainians, and women decide ...
(Poland, 1918), and the later Przysposobienie Wojskowe Kobiet (1920s-1930s) * Soviet women in World War II * SPARS (U.S. Navy) *
White feather The white feather is a widely recognised propaganda symbol. It has, among other things, represented cowardice or conscientious pacifism; as in A. E. W. Mason's 1902 book, '' The Four Feathers''. In Britain during the First World War it was of ...
* Wojskowa Służba Kobiet of the Polish resistance, the
Home Army The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) est ...
*
Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service Waves most often refers to: *Waves, oscillations accompanied by a transfer of energy that travel through space or mass. *Wind waves, surface waves that occur on the free surface of bodies of water. Waves may also refer to: Music * Waves (band ...
(USA) – known as "WAVES" *
Women Airforce Service Pilots The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (also Women's Army Service Pilots or Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots) was a civilian women pilots' organization, whose members were United States federal civil service employees. Members of WASP became t ...
(USA) – known as "WASPs" *
Women in the Russian and Soviet military Women in the Russian and Soviet militaries have played many roles in their country's military history. Women played an important role in world wars in Russia and the Soviet Union, particularly during World War II. World War I Women served in the ...
*
Women's Army Corps The Women's Army Corps (WAC) was the women's branch of the United States Army. It was created as an auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) on 15 May 1942 and converted to an active duty status in the Army of the United States ...
(USA) – known as "WACs" *
Women's Auxiliary Air Force The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (), was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000 at its peak strength in 1943, with over 2 ...
(UK) * Women's Auxiliary Service (Poland) – its members known as "Pestki" (after PSK, ''Pomocnicza Służba Kobiet'') *
Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS; often pronounced as an acronym) was the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed on 9 September 1938, initially as a women's voluntary service, and existed until 1 Februa ...
(UK) (in which Princess Elizabeth, now Queen Elizabeth II, was enlisted) *
Women's Land Army The Women's Land Army (WLA) was a British civilian organisation created in 1917 by the Board of Agriculture during the First World War to bring women into work in agriculture, replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the W ...
(UK) – known as "Land girls" *
Woman's Land Army of America The Woman's Land Army of America (WLAA), later the Woman's Land Army (WLA), was a civilian organization created during the First and Second World Wars to work in agriculture replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the WLAA ...
*
Women's Royal Army Corps The Women's Royal Army Corps (WRAC; sometimes pronounced acronymically as , a term unpopular with its members) was the corps to which all women in the British Army belonged from 1949 to 1992, except medical, dental and veterinary officers and cha ...
(UK) *
Women's Royal Australian Naval Service The Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) was the women's branch of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). In 1941, fourteen members of the civilian Women's Emergency Signalling Corps (WESC) were recruited for wireless telegraphy work at ...
(Australia) – known as "WRANS" *
Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service The Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRCNS or "Wrens") was an element of the Royal Canadian Navy that was active during the Second World War and post-war as part of the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve until unification in 1968.http://esask.ureg ...
(Canada) – also known as "Wrens" *
Women's Royal Naval Service The Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS; popularly and officially known as the Wrens) was the women's branch of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. First formed in 1917 for the First World War, it was disbanded in 1919, then revived in 1939 at the ...
(UK) – known as "Wrens"


References


Further reading


Women on the homefront

* Beauman, Katharine Bentley. ''Green Sleeves: The Story of WVS/WRVS'' (London: Seeley, Service & Co. Ltd., 1977) * Calder, Angus. ''The People's War: Britain 1939-45'' (1969) * Campbell, D'Ann. ''Women at War With America: Private Lives in a Patriotic Era'' (1984) * Cook, Bernard A. ''Women and war: a historical encyclopedia from antiquity to the present'' (2006) * Costello, John. ''Love, Sex, and War: Changing Values, 1939-1945'' (1985). US title: ''Virtue under Fire: How World War II Changed Our Social and Sexual Attitudes'' * Darian-Smith, Kate. ''On the Home Front: Melbourne in Wartime, 1939-1945.'' Australia: Oxford UP, 1990. * Falconi, April M., et al. "Shifts in women's paid employment participation during the World War II era and later life health." ''Journal of Adolescent Health'' 66.1 (2020): S42-S5
online
* Gildea, Robert. ''Marianne in Chains: Daily Life in the Heart of France During the German Occupation'' (2004) * Maurine W. Greenwald. ''Women, War, and Work: The Impact of World War I on Women Workers in the United States'' (1990) * Hagemann, Karen and Stefanie Schüler-Springorum; ''Home/Front: The Military, War, and Gender in Twentieth-Century Germany.'' Berg, 2002. * Harris, Carol (2000). ''Women at War 1939-1945: The Home Front''. Stroud: Sutton Publishing Limited. . * Havens, Thomas R. "Women and War in Japan, 1937-1945." ''American Historical Review'' 80 (1975): 913-934. online in JSTOR. * Higonnet, Margaret R., et al., eds. ''Behind the Lines: Gender and the Two World Wars.'' Yale UP, 1987. * Marwick, Arthur. ''War and Social Change in the Twentieth Century: A Comparative Study of Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States.'' 1974. * Noakes, J. (ed.), ''The Civilian in War: The Home Front in Europe, Japan and the U.S.A. in World War II.'' Exeter: Exęter University Press. 1992. * Pierson, Ruth Roach. ''They're Still Women After All: The Second World War and Canadian Womanhood.'' Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1986. * Regis, Margaret. ''When Our Mothers Went to War: An Illustrated History of Women in World War II.'' Seattle: NavPublishing. (2008) . * Wightman, Clare (1999). ''More than Munitions: Women, Work and the Engineering Industries 1900-1950''. London: Addison Wesley Longman limited. . * Williams, Mari. A. (2002). ''A Forgotten Army: Female Munitions Workers of South Wales, 1939-1945''. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. . * * "Government Girls of World War II" 2004 film by Leslie Sewell


Women in military service

* Bidwell, Shelford. ''The Women's Royal Army Corps'' (London, 1977), * Campbell, D'Ann. "Women in Combat: The World War Two Experience in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and the Soviet Union" ''Journal of Military History'' (April 1993), 57:301-323
online edition
* Campbell, D'Ann. "The women of World War II." in ''A Companion to World War II'' ed. by Thomas W. Zeiler(2013) 2:717–738
online
* Campbell, D'Ann. ''Women at War With America: Private Lives in a Patriotic Era'' (1984) ch 1-2 * Campbell, D'Ann. "Women in Uniform: The World War II Experiment," ''Military Affairs'', Vol. 51, No. 3, Fiftieth Year—1937-1987 (July, 1987), pp. 137–139
in JSTOR
* Cottam, K. Jean, ed. ''The Golden-Tressed Soldier'' (Manhattan, KS, Military Affairs/Aerospace Historian Publishing, 1983) on Soviet women * Cottam, K. Jean. ''Soviet Airwomen in Combat in World War II'' (Manhattan, KS: Military Affairs/Aerospace Historian Publishing, 1983) * Cottam, K. Jean. "Soviet Women in Combat in World War II: The Ground Forces and the Navy," ''International Journal of Women's Studies,'' 3, no. 4 (1980): 345-57 * DeGroot G.J. "Whose Finger on the Trigger? Mixed Anti-Aircraft Batteries and the Female Combat Taboo," ''War in History,'' Volume 4, Number 4, December 1997, pp. 434–453(20) * Dombrowski, Nicole Ann. ''Women and War in the Twentieth Century: Enlisted With Or Without Consent'' (1999) * Grant, Susan-Mary. "On the Field of Mercy: Women Medical Volunteers from the Civil War to the First World War." ''American Nineteenth Century History'' (2012) 13#2 pp: 276-278. * Hacker, Barton C. and Margaret Vining, eds. ''A Companion to Women's Military History'' (2012) 625pp; articles by scholars covering a very wide range of topics * Hagemann, Karen, "Mobilizing Women for War: The History, Historiography, and Memory of German Women’s War Service in the Two World Wars," ''Journal of Military History'' 75:3 (2011): 1055-1093 * Krylova, Anna. ''Soviet Women in Combat: A History of Violence on the Eastern Front'' (2010
excerpt and text search
* Leneman, Leah. "Medical women at war, 1914–1918." ''Medical history'' (1994) 38#2 pp: 160-177
online
on Britain * Merry, L. K. ''Women Military Pilots of World War II: A History with Biographies of American, British, Russian and German Aviators'' (McFarland, 2010). * Pennington, Reina. ''Wings, Women, and War: Soviet Airwomen in World War II Combat'' (2007
excerpt and text search
* Pennington, Reina. ''Amazons to Fighter Pilots: A Biographical Dictionary of Military Women'' (Greenwood, 2003). * Saywell, Shelley. ''Women in War'' (Toronto, 1985); * Seidler, Franz W. ''Frauen zu den Waffen—Marketenderinnen, Helferinnen Soldatinnen'' Women to Arms: Sutlers, Volunteers, Female Soldiers"(Koblenz, Bonn: Wehr & Wissen, 1978) * Stoff, Laurie S. ''They Fought for the Motherland: Russia's Women Soldiers in World War I And the Revolution'' (2006) * Treadwell, Mattie. ''The Women's Army Corps'' (1954) * Tuten, "Jeff M. Germany and the World Wars," in Nancy Loring Goldman, ed. ''Female Combatants or Non-Combatants?'' (1982)


External links

* Grayzel, Susan R.
Women’s Mobilization for War
, in

* ttp://www.warandgender.com/wgwomwwi.htm Women of World War IThe Women of World War I (from the book "War and Gender").
Railwaywomen in Wartime
British women's work on the railways in both world wars - photos and text - free information.
WWII US women's service organizations
— History and uniforms in color (WAAC/WAC, WAVES, ANC, NNC, USMCWR, PHS, SPARS, ARC and WASP)

a publication of the
United States Army Center of Military History The United States Army Center of Military History (CMH) is a directorate within the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command. The Institute of Heraldry remains within the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Ar ...

Women soldiers in Polish Home Army
Statistics on the many roles of American women in World War II {{DEFAULTSORT:Women's Roles In The World Wars