Introduction

. WAVES (Women Appointed for Volunteer Emergency Service in the navy)
. While lots of women from Great Britain and US joined the armed forces, women around the world were affected by the war in a variety of ways.
.. Great Britain and US didn’t allow women to engage in combat because they were women
.. Soviet and Chinese allowed women to take up arms
.. Nazi forces did not discriminate when rounding up Jews for transport and extermination

Women’s Roles

. Factory assembly lines gained an independence and confidence that had previously been denied them.
. Women’s roles changed during the war temporarily
.. Women served as noncombatant pilots, drove ambulances, labored in the fields to produce foodstuffs. Over half a million women joined British military services and approximately 350,000 women did the same in the US.

Women and the War