The extent to which both the first and second world wars acted as catalyst for women’s enfranchisement and social change

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Abstract

The First and Second World Wars were incubators for social change that fundamentally affected female well-being in all aspects of life. All countries acknowledged profound change in an era that witnessed the maturing effects of the Industrial revolution, mass public education, and civil rights and social legislation. The “hothouse effect” fuelled by sophisticated technology, international travel and telecommunication simply could not have taken place in the previous centuries (before the World Wars). Moreover, the hothouse effect had a multiplier impact of the females and males countrywide through the spread of female suffrage and established global agenda for women’s rights via world conferences (Simkins, et al. 2003, p. 211-212). Even though the periods are separated by many years, they occurred in very similar social contexts and so had nearly equal impacts on the women’s enfranchisement and social change.

Introduction

After both World War 1 and 2, United Kingdom experienced massive changes. Prohibition caused a rise in organized crime while both women and immigrants experienced great changes. The Women’s Suffrage Movement for example had been active for 70 years before women were finally granted the right to vote. For the first time, all the states had to permit women to participate in voting. Many people trace the active role that women played during World War 1 to increased support that the suffragists received after the war. This paper therefore explores the extent to which both the First and Second World Wars acted as a catalyst for women’s enfranchisement and social change.

Impacts

After the First World War, through the women’s suffrage movement, women won the right to vote nationwide. Gilbert 2004 (p. 307) says that, though some intellectuals opposed the movement at first but the public pressure through hunger strike and jailing of suffragists, they were convinced to accept. Many suffragists believed that the women’s right to vote could act as a catalyst for social change, “A way to tap women’s greater capacity for human empathy, their status as the mother of the race”. The power to change the public policy was then on their hands. Women could no longer be prevented by men fro voting. The women had the ability and authority to determine just what their roles in the society were and this remained in their hands (Mombauer, 2002, p. 195-201). Many women believed that all they had to do to take that power was to mark the X or pull the handle at the voting booth to ensure their place in the political establishment.

According to Tschan, et al. 2008, Suffrage coincided with a large increase in the number of women working outside the home. Many began working in non-traditional fields when the wave of men left for war. After war, women were still required to fill the deceased workforce. Women after war went to independent farmers in hopes of increased food supplies for both the war and its aftermath. After the World Wars, the telephone and the typewriter had provided a whole new category of jobs for women (Tschan, et al. 2008, p 105). Women were coming off the farms and out of the kitchen in large numbers to become important members of the labour force.

Some viewed this new political and economic opportunity as the catalyst for the new social freedom for women. The new social freedom allowed women to wear short skirts and short hair and socialized in bars and nightclubs (Mombauer, 2002, p. 195-201). The behaviour was in direct conflict with the social dictates of the proper behaviour for women; most women did not follow the image of the flapper (women who wore short skirts and short hair and socialized in bars and nightclubs), but it was a powerful image that symbolized the changing role of women.

There were also several changes which might be described as informal, in that they were either beyond government control or had to be dealt with in a way which went against earlier government policies. In some ways the war exerted a profound social impact through its operations as a catalyst for economic change and growth (Tschan, et al. 2008, p 102). Alternatively, the war seemed to divert attention from a fundamental issue which had been a source of contention beforehand, only to give a good reason for resolving it afterwards. This applied especially to the movement for women’s suffrage. Presently, a good percent of the electorates are women.

By the very threat of different opposing organizations was probably a powerful factor in the enfranchisement of women at the end of the war. On the other hand, according to Gilbert 2004, the war in some instances acted as a temporary impetus for change, only for this to be cancelled subsequently by another, more permanent influence of the war. For example, the First World War contributed directly to the expansion of the female workforce, itself an indication of social revolution (Gilbert, 2004, p. 321). Yet, on the return of peace, the underlying problems of demobilisation and the inexorable increase in unemployment led to a period between the wars when women actually faced increased discrimination from employers. Overall, the effects of the First and Second World Wars were complex and contradictory. It is therefore essential to allow for a variety of cross-interpretations and to accept that contradiction and paradoxes can be as important as resolved theories to historical understanding.

The significance of the after World Wars was not a breakdown of moral values or a rise in permissiveness but its association with larger social issues was of great importance as well (Strachan, 2005, p. 77-78). Women hence had increased autonomy, increased equality, and decreased paternalism; they as well demanded and exercised the right to greater sexual freedom. The changes are never threats to the family but they underline for management the fact that women are seeking and demanding autonomy and equality in both their personal and work lives.

In conclusion, the First and Second World Wars greatly acted as catalysts for women’s enfranchisement and social change. A period of social change brought on by the World Wars and the reconstruction mood at the wars’ ends left an opening for new directions, freedoms, and opportunities for women. They had the chance to enjoy the rights that they were not enjoying before the World Wars and this brought about many social changes in the community ad workforce.

Bibliography

Gilbert, M 2004, The First World War: a complete history. Henry Holt Publishers, p. 305-321.

Mombauer, A, 2002, The origins of the First World War: controversies and consensus. Publisher Longman, p. 195-201.

Simkins, P., Jukes, G., and Hickey, M, 2003, The First World War: The War to End All Wars. Volume 2 of Essential Histories Specials. Publisher Osprey Publishing, pp. 211-215.

Strachan, H, 2005, The First World War. Penguin Publishers, p. 77-81.

Tschan, F, Grimm, H., and Squires, J 2008, The first and second World Wars: War backgrounds ed. of Western Civilization. University of Wisconsin, p. 102-125.