These two groups didn’t have the same opportunities as white men for many reasons. Women were thought of as weak compared to men, and unconfident. Evidence for this is in the 1930’s when only one woman was elected for the US Senate, however for what women lagged in politics, they made up for in the film industry. Women were massive film stars e.g. Gretta Garbo and Mae West. Another reason why women didn’t have much luck with jobs is because they were labelled as housewives from the day they were born. They would grow up, get married and wait on their husbands hand and foot. Men expected their wives to do everything around the house and be happy to do this, which a lot of women weren’t.
Black Americans didn’t have the same opportunities as white men again due to a number of reasons. These included the fact that the president at the time was Roosevelt who took a somewhat racist view towards them, and therefore didn’t improve their rights and equality. The Black community was also highly opposed by a group called the Ku Klux Klan, a highly racist group from the South of America. The KKK only liked one type of people, white Anglo-Saxon Protestants; they opposed groups such as Catholics, alcoholics, but especially black people. There main aim was to intimidate black people and spread a feeling of terror among the black community. They would torture, beat and even hang black people for no reason other than the fact that they looked different. The KKK were most active in the south of the USA in states such as Indiana, the membership of the KKK reached a peak in the 1920’s and then started to drop by 1941. Blacks were totally segregated from their community which made it difficult for them to have any opportunity whatsoever, and which also made it practically impossible to compete with white men.
Black people before the war suffered immense discrimination and racism towards their whole race. Even at the start of the war they suffered with prejudice and segregation. The biased views based on the traditional viewpoint of the Black race, and the separation of races in schools, restaurants, transport etc. cut black people off from the rest of the world, and all because of the colour of their skin. Black Americas campaigned for civil rights during the war with many non-violent protests organised by the Congress of Racial Equality, and when there were plans for a protest involving 100,000 people, President Roosevelt was forced to ban discrimination against Blacks in government and industrial jobs and set up the Fair Employment Practise Committee. The government also tried to help Blacks by tracking down businesses who didn’t employ them and threatening not to give contracts to these firms unless they changed their ways. The discrimination laws against Blacks did not apply to the Armed Forces and at the start of the war, the Army would not train Black Officers. Blacks in the Air Force could not be pilots and blacks in the Navy could only work in the kitchens. Possibly one of the biggest discriminations of all towards black people is that their blood would not be used to treat wounded whites, and Black women could not join the Armed Forces at all.
When all the men were sent off to war, women had to be employed to keep the country running. They were employed in ammunition factories, and other war effort jobs, proving to the country that they could work and that they were just as good as men at their jobs. I think that in the war, women were noticed and the country realised that they could do what the men had previously done. They were also allowed to work in the Armed Forces, but there was some discrimination against this too. Attractive women in the forces were put forward for the “Cover Girl” award, choosing the best looking woman in the Armed Forces, much like a beauty contest. I feel this shows that although women were now allowed in the Forces, they are being judged differently to men. Propaganda had a big effect on women in the war, with mixed views coming out. Some promoted independence for women whereas some condemned it.
Black people put pressure on the government to give them more opportunities by organising protests which did eventually make a difference and allowed them more rights, but didn’t help as much as they would’ve liked. Women didn’t put pressure on the government as much as Black people, but they came into their own in the war because there was no one else around to do the jobs previously done by men, so they were given opportunity in this way.
By the end of the war, much had changed for both Blacks and women. By the end of the war, 600 black pilots had seen combat and all three services eventually had Black officers. However, all of the Armed Services were segregated throughout the war. This step for Blacks doesn’t sound like much, but it was a huge leap from their prior rights and status in America, although this is all that Blacks achieved
Women on the other hand did very well during the war. By the end of 1942, 60% of people thought married women should work in the war industries. Between 1940 and 1945 the number of women working went up from 12 to 18.5 million, they had become one third of the workforce. Women worked mainly in shipyards, aircraft and armament factories. The pay in these factories was very good compared to other women’s work. A good example of this increase in working women is in the ship construction industry, in 1939 just 36 women were working in ship construction and by 1942 this had risen to over 200,000, and 300,000 women were now working for the Armed Forces.
But was all this progress permanent? Well for women a lot of permanent progress had been made. Many women gave up their jobs after the war for returning soldiers so the number of women in the work industry declined, only to go up again.
I think the most important bit of permanent progress though, was that by the end of the war, four states had made equal pay for women compulsory which was a big step forwards as this showed that women’s rights were on the rise.
For Black people, there was also change. They were now accepted in the defence industry as well as a few other lines of work. Their pay was still less than white men but they were becoming part of the society that had previously rejected them. Unfortunately, there was still a lot of discrimination and the change that the war had brought was not all permanent.
So who made the most significant progress as a result of World War Two? Well, in my opinion it is easy to say that women did. Although Black people were becoming more accepted n society, and their rights were improving, women had much ore permanent change and a better deal overall. Women were now being recognised as individuals as opposed to men’s possessions, and they were being paid more in certain parts of America. They became more respected in the workplace and at home and the numbers of working women just kept increasing, between 1940 and 1960 the percentage of married women with jobs almost doubled. As a result of World War Two and the opportunities given to them, women became much more independent and progressed mo than the Black community.
