Idea of Progress: to what extent have wars over the past century led to an improvement in women's rights in the US?

The notion I’m going to deal with is idea of progress. At first the idea of progress is the theory that the differents advances in technology, science and social organization can produce an improvement in the human condition. I choose to talk about social progress. Socizl progress implies change and evolution. In that way we may ask ourselves to what extend have wars over the past century led to an improvement in women’s rights in the US.

First the US enterd World War 1 in 1917. Men were sent away to fight on the front in Euroope, o women have to replace men and to be a part of the country economy. Therefore women worked on the fields in order to feed their family. Women had to replace men in work to take care of their family. (But) some women are also enlist in the war not in the front but as nurses, to illustrate this remark I have chosen to talk about a poster which is a part of a fundraising campaign for the Red Cross. This posterillustrates a major role played by women in time of war, that of nurses tending and devoting themselves to the wounded. And yet, if women did play a vital role in WW1 they were still performing a traditionnal task nursing and taking care of wounded male soldiers. They were not allowed to fight and were still confined to mothers or wives long-established roles. Real war remained a man’s preserve.

At the end of the war, the society realized that women were able to replace men to grow fields and to be a part of the country economy. In 1920 women got the right to vote in the US. It represents a step in the equality between men and women.

Secondly after the attack of Pearl Harbor in 1941 the US entered WW2. As in the WW1 men were sent in the front in Europe and women have to replace them. They have to work as in the WW1 but they had also to work in the factory to produce the basic necessities and support the war effort. Thaks to a propaganda campaign which prompted women to replace men at work, the US government pulled on upon women’s patriotism. They created a famous war poster which portrays Rosie the Riveter. Rosie is the perfect illustration of the changing role of women in time of war. She seems to be quite a self-confident women, proud of the way she helps her country. She actually eptomizes all the women who started replacing men in factories and on building sites in 1940s, at a time when it was unusual for a woman to have a physical job. That’s why Rosie may be said to stand for emancipated womeb, and more to herald a new generation of responsible women. She remains to the personification of women’s fight for equality.

Women’s contribution to the war effort was decisive. At that point, they were on an equal footing with them, which marked a turning point in the place of working women and was a significant change.

Since the end of WW2 women could work in factories, in office. Moreover the number of working women has increase from year to year. Women had changed the place of working.

Nowadays women can be soldiers as we saw in ths snapshots. It means that womne are considered fully fledged soldiers with the same responsibilities as men and can fight at the front.They can carry all sorts of weapons and have been granted the same rights as men they are now allowed to get killed in action.

To conclude thanks to wars, the place of women are evolve on the society because they have prove that they can have a manual job. And now they can do everything men do. (but) we may wonder if nowaday women and men are equal ?

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