To begin my investigation, I chose, women during and after World War One, as my area of focus, specifically their economic, social and political status. I asked myself why this area interested me and realized that I was also interested in how this affected future wars and/or life today. Through further initial research, I became interested in the way that women’s roles in society changed during and after World War One. The specific change that I chose to focus on was how women had to take on the men’s jobs after they were drafted into the war and won the right to vote.
After brainstorming, I settled onto a specific research topic. I will be investigating the ways in which world war one affected women’s role in society, and analyze how this change may have affected future wars such as World War Two. I will investigate this to help me further understand how the social, political and economic status of women has evolved since 1914. How did these changes affect women’s role in society? How did men respond to them? In this project, I am researching to understand the changes in society that were caused by world war one, specifically changes in women’s role in society and how men reacted to this.
My method of investigation will include primary sources and secondary sources explaining the changes. First-hand sources, explanations, opinions and other writings from the time itself will give me accurate information about the specific reaction of people during this time. Key primary sources should include writings such as articles and books from that time period, starting at the start of World War One. My location will range across all of the countries involved with World War One however specifically the United States.
Any sources written by government officials or military personnel will not be included, only men and women civilians. Men were affected by these changes when they returned from war to find women in the workplace just as women were affected with new opportunity. The time period I am focusing on is from July 28, 1914 to 1921. These are the dates in which my primary source must have be written in between- the start of World War One to a couple years after. I chose these dates because women were affected with change just as the war started and until after.
For primary sources, people will have their opinions still in their minds for a couple years after the war. Schedule The primary source that I will be addressing in this investigation will be an article called In The Driftway on page 945 of a periodical by The Nation, volume 108. In the Driftway is a periodical written in 1919 and published on November 25th, 1919 by a journal called The Nation. The Nation focuses on News, Political and Social Commentary and Opinion. This is an ideal source to read first-hand opinion from this time period.
For my secondary source, I will be using “The Changing Role of Women: 1776–2006”, a chapter written by Catherine Reef for her nonfiction book “Working in America”. I will be focusing on the section of the chapter titled “The Working Woman Enters the 20th Century” If I were to extend this investigation, I might include related questions like, if and how these changes affected World War 2. This could further my analysis to just the extent to how successful these changes were.
What patterns show to progress of women’s society and how can we continue it to evolve? Evaluation of the two sources To address my question, ‘How did World War I affect the social, political and economic status of women? ’, I will be using a primary source and a secondary source. Primary Source “In the Driftway. ” Nation, vol. 108, no. 2815, 14 June 1919, p. 945. EBSCOhost,search. ebscohost. com/login. aspx? direct=true&db=ulh&AN=13715809. Values This article issues views of the author on issues in relation to women and effects that World War I had on them.
The author has a describes the opinion that women, during the time it was written, have become more progressive. Men had started feeling outnumbered because the business and industrial world was becoming feminized. Teaching and social work was being classed as a degrading occupation. The women of this time period were becoming more progressive. This article provided a first hand opinion from an author from the time period. It gives a perspective of a man during the changes that women were going through because of the war.
Not only does it give an opinion it also explains how women were “taking over” the business world. “The Drifter whistles softly as he imagines this united assault on a business world” (In the Driftway) Limitations Because this is from a perspective of a man, it is biased. Men were losing jobs to women and because of this, some men felt threatened by women during this time. Although it does not specifically state an author, this article is obviously written by a man because there are no positive descriptions of the changes happening to women. Origins
This primary source is an article called In The Driftway on page 945 of a periodical by The Nation, volume 108. In the Driftway is a periodical written in 1919 and published on November 25th, 1919 by a journal called The Nation. The Nation focuses on News, Political and Social Commentary and Opinion. Purpose The purpose of articles in The Nation are to publish news about social and political happenings along with opinions. The purpose of this article is to publish the author’s, and presumably other men’s, opinions of the changes regarding women during this time. “… business world already so highly feminized that a mere male like himself feels almost an intruder on lower Broadway at lunch time. ” (In the Driftway)
The men feel like the inferior gender during this time. Secondary Source. Reef, Catherine. “The Changing Role of Women: 1776–2006. ” Working in America, Facts On File, 2007. American History, online. infobase. com/HRC/Search/Details/205919? q=women’s role in world war 1. Values This article cites reliable primary sources to make her information accurate. The chapter provides information about all of the significant changes that women have gone through.
The section specific to my research question is titled “The Working Woman Enters the 20th Century” and “Enjoying the Full Rights of Citizenship”. Both sections describe how the world changed for women once the men were drafted into the war. Because the chapter cites primary sources, it is a reliable source for historians to research a section of society has evolved, specifically regarding women. Limitations This book is a secondary source therefore it does not offer the advantage of having first hand information or opinion about the time period or events.
Also, it was written by a woman therefore it is possible that she, the author, talks negatively about the men of this time period who reacted negatively towards the changes. Therefore, it does contain some bias. Origins This source was written by Catherine Reef in 2007. Purpose By using excerpts from primary sources, the book, and this specific chapter’s purpose was to provide a variety of perspective and prompt readers to enhance their knowledge about the changes that women in society have gone through.
