The war created special problems for women whose husbands had gone off to fight. Army pay was low and inconsistent, so these women had to support their families.
They also had to protect themselves and their children from enemy soldiers. Farm women had to learn how to do the men’s work of planting and harvesting. But they still had to run their households. Along with feeding their families, they had to grow enough food to supply the army. Nonfarming women sometimes took over their husbands’ businesses. Some were quite successful. Others eventually sold the businesses because they had no training to run them.
