Women's Role in Society during WWI
During World War I, Australia, New Zealand and a few other Scandinavian countries were the only countries that gave women their own rights to vote. However, in Australia, women still received a wage 54 present lower than men did. Their role was still seen to be in the home, performing domestic duties and raising the children.
From the beginning of the war, women were keen to be as actively involved in the war as men. Women applied to work as cooks, clerk and other jobs that were considered traditional women’s role, so that the men could be free to fight. Yet, the government still discouraged women to serve in the army. The only women who were allowed to engage in any form of active involvement were the nurses. |
While the government didn’t want the women leave home which could result in changing the original society, a number of women stood up and took up roles left vacant by men who had enlisted. The number of women worked as typists and bookkeepers and they also began to take the jobs that were previously closed to them, such as banking and insurance (Skwirk, 2013).
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