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THE FATE OF WOMEN DURING WARTIME
Rustamova Mashhura
Student at Jizzakh State Pedagogical Univercity
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15779112
Annotation
: This article explores the lives of women during wartime,
particularly focusing on the period of World War II. It highlights the bravery,
resilience, and humanitarian efforts of women in Uzbekistan, who played a
crucial role on the home front. Despite the harsh conditions of war, Uzbek
women demonstrated patriotism by supporting evacuated populations, caring
for children and wounded soldiers, and actively contributing to industrial
production. The article sheds light on the social and moral strength of women
during one of the most challenging periods in history, presenting them as
essential agents of survival and support in wartime society.
Keywords
: Wartime, Women's fate, World War II, History of Uzbekistan,
Evacuation, Patriotism, Home front, Humanitarian efforts, Industrial labor,
Women's social role
“All Members of the United Nations shall refrain in their international
relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or
political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the
purposes of the United Nations.” So why, for the first time in world history, was a
charter adopted at the international level to prohibit war? Because in the last
5,000 years of human history, there have been 14,000 wars, in which nearly 5
billion people have perished. During World War II alone, 50 million people died.
Following WWII, there were 150 large and small wars around the world.
To better understand the reasons behind the creation of the UN Charter and
the significance of this statistical data, let us turn our attention to the history of
wars that have brought countless tragedies, sufferings, and separations upon
humanity. In particular, how did these bloody conflicts affect the lives of women
and children those who were not participants in the wars themselves?
During World War II, women demonstrated true human virtues. The war
drastically changed normal life. From the early days of the war, as in the rest of
the country, Uzbekistan also experienced severe shortages in food and industrial
goods. Due to the rising influx of relocated populations, the housing crisis
became extremely acute. Interruptions in electricity and fuel supply negatively
impacted transport and public utilities. The war intruded into every household.
Those on the home front endured great hardship and suffering.
Uzbek women, through their resilient labor on the home front, proved that
they were no less patriotic than soldiers on the battlefield. Despite the harsh
THEORETICAL ASPECTS IN THE FORMATION OF
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International scientific-online conference
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material conditions, Uzbek women showed moral strength and sincere nobility
by providing support and solidarity. They cared for the wounded, the disabled,
the wives, mothers, and children of those who had gone to war, and especially
those who had been forced to flee their beloved homelands. In 1941 alone, the
patriotism of helping the first tens of thousands of displaced persons from
enemy-occupied regions and frontline areas expanded greatly. During the war
years, more than one million people were relocated to Uzbekistan from occupied
territories of the Soviet Union—including Ukraine, Belarus, and Leningrad. Of
these, 200,000 were children. “Every day, trains full of evacuees and wounded
soldiers arrived from the western regions of the country. It was necessary to
accommodate them and provide them with housing. The people of Tashkent
took these concerns deeply to heart. One day, it was announced that a train
carrying besieged children from Leningrad was arriving. Thousands of Uzbek
women came to the station, pleading to take in the starving children and raise
them as their own…”
This wave of patriotism, especially aimed at helping evacuated children,
gained even greater momentum after a meeting of Tashkent city women was
held on January 2, 1942. The meeting called upon Uzbek women to become
mothers to orphans and children separated from their families. At the same
time, the challenge of supplying labor to the growing wartime industries
intensified. With many experienced workers sent to the front, it became
necessary to train and prepare unskilled laborers in a short period of time.
Women were actively mobilized into industrial production. If in 1940, women
made up 34.5% of industrial workers, by 1942 this figure had risen to 63.5%.
Conclusion
Despite hunger and extreme exhaustion, industrial workers did everything
they could to supply the front with weapons, military equipment, and resources.
During the war, they produced and delivered: 2,100 airplanes, 17,342 aircraft
engines, 2.318 million aerial bombs, 17,100 mortars, 4,500 mine-laying devices,
about 60,000 units of military chemical equipment, 22 million mines, 560,000
shells, 1 million grenades, 3 million radio tubes for field radio stations, about
300,000 parachutes, 5 armored trains, 18 military sanitation and laundry trains,
2,200 mobile kitchens, and many other military supplies. Light industry
enterprises alone produced 7,518,800 military tunics, 2,636,000 cotton jackets,
and 2,861,500 army boots between 1941 and 1945. Women played a major role
in all of these efforts.
References
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1. UN, Second Protocol, Article 4, Clause 2
2. Jean Pictet. Development and Principles of International Law. ICRC, 1993, p.
11.
3.Gasser, H. International Law. Moscow, 1995, p. 12.
4. Arifin, K. (1990). Military Commandant Regulations. Moscow.
5.Changes in the class structure of society in Uzbekistan during the Soviet era.
(1984). Tashkent.
6. Oybekh Khayitov. What Should a Businesswoman Be Like?
Onna Magazine, 2004, Issue 1, page 60.
