The Courage and Focus of the Nurses and Women During Pearl Harbor Essay Example

The courage and focus of the nurses and women during Pearl Harbor is amazing. There was an overwhelming number of patients that needed aid once the bombs started to drop. The nurses cared for as many people as they could and didn’t focus on the madness and craziness that going on out on the battlefield. The attack on Pearl Harbor wasn’t also remembered for American patriotism but it marked an important day for women. My topic is important because the women during Pearl Harbor played a very important role and without the nurses during the attack many more soldiers could’ve died and without many women advocating for workplace freedom, women today wouldn’t have the ability to choose their choice of work. 

During the attack on the morning of December 7, 1941, there were individuals that were devoted to helping the wounded servicemen. Sometimes, women during Pearl Harbor tend to not get enough credit for their hard work to save so many servicemen. In an article done by Katie Lange, she quotes a daughter of a Pearl Harbor nurse. She said “You hear stories about Pearl Harbor, and they're all about the men. You hear very few stories about the women.” But there are so many stories out there that show the true value of these nurses. One of those stories is that of First Lieutenant Annie G. Fox who ultimately received a Bronze Star for her courageous acts. Lt. Annie Fox a Head Nurse who helped coordinate the hospitals response to the attack and gather the nurses. She was in and out of surgeries trying to save as many men as possible while also running and organizing the hospital through this chaotic time. This is just one example of the amazing work of the nurses during this time and how big of an impact they had. The nurses made the best of a very difficult situation which also allowed them to rise to the occasion and show their strengths right when disaster struck. Women had a lot more power during this time then they are given credit for. 

There were more women, other than nurses, who helped the men on the battlefield. They were women who worked to break Nazi and Japanese codes. After the attack, thousands of women were recruited from liberal art colleges to help create a huge “codebreaking operation”.  The work of the codebreakers helped free men for combat, but also helped with so much more. They provided a huge amount of intelligence about Japanese ship movements and submarines in the Mediterranean. With their codebreaking skills and knowledge, these women were able to help head commanders and soldiers to outthink their enemy which ultimately allowed them to outfight them.

Women being able to crack these military codes allowed a lot of postwar success for American women. Female codebreakers changed the game for women especially in the military. It used to be that when women did a “man’s job”, they had to return home as soon as their work was done. In a secondary source by the Observer, they write a quote by Bryn Mawr College’s fourth president, Katherine E. McBride. She said that “war was creating unprecedented opportunities for highly educated women. There is a new situation for women here, a demand that has never existed for them before.” What people don’t realize is that a lot of the push for more women in the military workforce came from male co-workers. They realized that women could do anything they could do and sometimes even better. This was huge especially when they noticed that women could be codebreakers, riveters, and major postwar military and economic leaders. Because of Pearl Harbor and the amazing work of the women during this time, it allowed more women to fight for their equality especially when World War II started. 

Pearl Harbor gave women the ability to advocate for workplace freedom and equality. By then end of the war, “350,000 US women had served in uniform both overseas and on the home front”, this showed that the Pearl Harbor attacks not only showed the US’ presence to the entry of World War II, but it was big moment for women’s equality. This was a groundbreaking movement for American male and female equality, especially within the military. This sparked the idea of inspiring the industrialization of women which was ultimately started by the famous figure Rosie the Riveter. Rosie the Riveter’s popular and patriotic strength is what helped inspire women to continuing serve and enlist in World War II or help in any other ways possible. This was the beginning of women’s equality in the workplace because it showed everyone that women can do anything men can do.  Without the women of Pearl Harbor and those who decided to join the military after the attack, women today probably would not have the ability to serve for their country or have the ability to choose their own choice of work. 

Without the incredible, strong, and courageous women during Pearl Harbor, women today may not have had the opportunities they do. Also, without these women, specifically the nurses, so many more soldiers would have died on December 7, 1941. Even after Pearl Harbor, women continued to help in every way possible during the after math and even during WWII. They were codebreakers for the military, soldiers, and helped advocate equality for women in the workplace.  Women’s roles during Pearl Harbor is important because they played such a huge part from being the nurses to help heal soldiers, codebreakers to help us defeat our enemies in the war, and being advocates for women so that they would have the ability to experience workplace equality and be able to choose their own choice of work.  Without these women, a lot of what we has a society and especially women, would not be possible.