The impact of world war II on chinese american women
...inese American women. The war opened up many promising opportunities for the women and their husbands. In the early years of the war Chinese women both in America and in China decided to band together and join the war effort. They put their feminist opinions and concerns aside for the sake of their countries. They realized that maybe the only way to gain equality was to get out there and show everyone what they were capable of. Most of them took up jobs that were considered to still be “female” jobs such as: organizing campaigns, hosting fund-raisers, and doing Red Cross work. These jobs, much like the factory jobs that immigrant women had, brought them closer together, gave them a chance to learn new skills and it also gave them a new found confidence in themselves and in their cause. In the days before the bombing of Pearl Harbor the Chinese were slowly being accepted into the mainstream of the community. However, the Chinese women still did not feel fully welcomed and they still had not achieved all of their goals for equality. On December 7th the bombing of Pearl Harbor gave the Chinese women exactly what they had been fighting for, acceptance. Soon after that the Chinese Americans were considered allies as well as “…loyal sons and daughters of Uncle Sam”( Yung 251). Other Americans finally thought of them as good, wholesome Americans as well. Another development in their favor was that the American government decided to open Chinese immigration into the United States, allowing them to come freely. Things also changed on the job front, women could now work outside of Chinatown and earn more money doing so. The most important change in the area of employment was the admittance of women, Chinese American women, into the Armed Forces. They were one of the few minorities to be integrated into the military. While they were not treated as well as the men at their jobs they were not treated poorly either. Before this the only job that had always been open to ...