During
World War II, the lifestyle of the American people changed dramatically. Most
of the men and a few of the women in the United States were drafted to the army
to fight in the war. These men and women who were drafted were in the age group
of twenty to forty five years of age. The other people who stayed were mostly
women. These women had to perform some of the jobs that the men used to do.
These jobs were even the hands on factory positions that men usually did. The
women that were now in the workforce started making posters to encourage the
other women to join them in working. Also, materials were becoming short
because of the war. The government had to start rationing daily resources, such
as food, gas, cloth, and metal. The soldiers in the war needed these items more
than any others, and they were more difficult to come by in bulk.
In response
to the more scarce recourses, everyone was given ration stamps, which became
somewhat of a currency during World War II. These ration stamps were used
solely for the purpose to buy materials most used by the soldiers at war. To
compensate for this, people started planting gardens at their homes called
“victory gardens.” These families could enjoy vegetables for months without
having to buy any. Mainly vegetables were grown in these victory gardens. Others
joined together and saved all of the metal they could by putting it in scrap
piles. They collected this extra scrap metal by taking pieces off of their
cars, and things they did not use around the house. A picture was taken of a
woman sitting on her car with a sign on the back that said “Please drive
carefully my bumpers are on the scrap yard.” These piles of metal were melted
down for more resources for the war. A lot of these metals were aluminum. One
other important resource that needed to be rationed was nylon for clothes. The
soldiers needed the nylon for their uniforms because it was a tougher material
to make clothes. Life during the war was a daily sacrifice. A poster put up by
the Office of War Information said, “Do with less so they’ll have enough.” This
poster was toward the people saying they should do with less, or not use as
many resources, so the soldiers would have more to use during the war. 
I was happy to hear that women were taking more and more jobs outside of the home while the men (and some women) were away at war. Even though a lot of the jobs were factory jobs, it was a step closer to what women were fighting for. It would be really hard to ration everything you're so used to having. I feel like food would be the hardest because some items were so scarce, some people rarely go them. I get that the war required a lot of help back home, so at least people planted victory gardens so they could at least have food at home to eat.
ReplyDeleteFor women I feel this is a pivotal moment. With all the men being at war it gave the women a chance to get out in the work force. Before this a lot of the women were fighting for women rights to get out of being just a house wife and getting a real actual job just like the men did. I also feel like this point in time was extremely stressful because everything was being rationed. I feel like in today’s world if things were to get rationed a lot of people would complain about it. Makes me feel more appreciative.
ReplyDeleteI, myself, am 20 and could not imagine fighting in the war. It really took some brave, young men and women. I am glad that women got to step into the workforce and even prompt others to do so too. Rationing sounded like a good idea to ensure that everyone got a little of what they needed, but it must have been hard to live off of smaller portions at the time. Vegetable gardens sound like a great idea to compensate for those items that they had to have less of. I find that very selfless for the lady to give her bumper to the scrap yards so they could use it for something else. Through my research, I learned that use of propaganda was huge during World War II, as you showed us here with your poster, "Do with less so they'll have enough!" I find it amazing that our country pulled together and supported one another through a rough time like this.
ReplyDelete