How WWI Changed America: Women in WWI

How World War I Changed Women’s Roles in America

World War I accelerated changes already underway in women’s lives. More women were earning wages and supporting women’s suffrage, while wartime demands expanded their work, public responsibilities, and visibility.

• Patriotic and practical contributions: Women were portrayed as mothers, sweethearts, and sisters who supported the home front and encouraged men to serve. Their labor also became essential to the war effort.
• More paid work: About eight million women were already in the workforce, and another million entered during the war. Women took jobs in munitions factories and meatpacking plants, as well as clerical roles such as typing and translating.
• Specialized military support: Some women worked as telephone operators in the Signal Corps. They needed to be fluent in French and trained in telephone operation.
• Volunteer and unpaid service: Women organized community efforts, rolled bandages for the Red Cross, and conserved meat so it could go to soldiers and allies.
• Overseas service: Thousands of American women went overseas, initially as volunteers. They served as health workers, ambulance drivers, Motor Corps members, and—especially—nurses. The growing presence of trained nurses helped establish nursing as a profession and showed the public that women were skilled professionals.
• Unequal access: Overseas opportunities were largely available to affluent and upper-middle-class women who could rely on family support. Black women faced severe restrictions: they were generally barred from serving as nurses, telephone operators, or ambulance drivers, with limited opportunities as YMCA workers.
• Formal military roles: For the first time, women became formal members of the armed services. Women known as Yeoman (F), or “Yeomanettes,” served in the Navy at home, taking jobs that allowed men to serve elsewhere. Women’s uniforms, badges, and sashes also made their authority and leadership more visible.
• Lasting effects: Wartime service changed public expectations of what women could do and changed women’s own expectations for their futures. The war loosened women’s ties to the household, and the 19th Amendment in 1920 recognized women’s continuing role in public life by granting women the right to vote.

Speakers or Sources Featured

One unnamed speaker provides the historical account. The subtitles do not identify the speaker by name or give a separate source.