Social Changes In Gender Roles During World War 1

After an immense amount of tension caused by nationalism and industrialism, and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian group called the Black Hand, war broke out between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, eventually spreading to include many major powers of the time. During the summer of 1914, after refusal from Serbia to hunt down the group responsible for killing the archduke and failure to meet the conditions of the ultimatum given, Austria-Hungary prepared for an invasion of Serbia. Knowing that Russia was an ally of Serbia leaders fears that declaring war could potentially bring Russia’s allies, France and Great Britain into the battle. As a result, Austria-Hungary waited until support was established from Germany to declare war on July 28. The powers didn’t know at
Now, if 65 million men left their jobs on the homefront, who performed those tasks? Why were there so many men enlisting for the army? What were the effects that war had on the men who fought? The short answer to these questions is the change in traditional gender roles during World War 1. Because of the vast social and economic changes that occurred during and after the war, such as the mobilization of men and the employment of women in traditionally male fields, World War 1 challenged and undermined the traditional gender roles of the time. In battle, men showed signs of weakness, especially in mental health, which was a big contrast from the way men were supposed to act on the battlefield. On the homefront, women challenged traditional gender roles by moving away from the domestic sphere and began contributing to the workforce by working in factories. Propaganda encouraged this workforce contribution greatly because of the varieties of posters made urging women to take on jobs that were foreign to them in order to support their