Soldiers Without Guns: American Women and WWII
     
     During World War II (1939-1945), our country needed all the men for the military, leaving few people to do the jobs they left behind, except the women. No one believed that a woman could handle anything a man could, they only thought that all a woman could do was stay home and tend to the family and the house. But after the men left for battle, our country needed, even encouraged, women to go into the workforce. These amazing women shocked everyone with what they are capable of doing, from lathing metal, to operating elevators, and to building airplane machinery. 
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      But despite however much the women helped us during the war, what happened to them after is a whole different story. The women of the war proved that they could do anything job a man could do, and maybe even do it better, but that had no effect on what jobs the women could take on after the war ended. Most the companies and jobs during the war, specifically ones made for the war, like factories who make machine guns, went out of business, because their product(s) were no longer needed. But for the jobs that didn't disappear after the end of the war, the jobs that had originally been the mens', our country gave them back, sending the same women they had encouraged to take on new jobs, straight back to their homes, to staying home and tending to the family and the house. This eventually led to the Women's Movement of the 1960's and debates over the role of women in the workforce.