Editing History of France (section)

==== Women in Vichy France ====
{{See also|Women in the French Resistance}}
The French soldiers held as POWs and forced laborers in Germany throughout the war were not at risk of death in combat, but the anxieties of separation for their wives were high. The government provided them a modest allowance, but one in ten became prostitutes to support their families. It gave women a key symbolic role to carry out the national regeneration. It used propaganda, women's organizations, and legislation to promote maternity, patriotic duty, and female submission to marriage, home, and children's education.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Diamond |first=Hanna |title=Women and the Second World War in France 1939–1948: Choices and Constraints |date=1999 |publisher=Longman |isbn=978-0-5822-9910-8}}</ref> Conditions were very difficult for housewives, as food and other necessities were in short supply. Divorce laws were made much more stringent, and restrictions were placed on the employment of married women. Family allowances that had begun in the 1930s were continued, and became a vital lifeline for many families; it was a monthly cash bonus for having more children. In 1942, the birth rate started to rise, and [[Demographics of France#After World War II|by 1945 it was higher than it had been for a century]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Muel-Dreyfus |first1=Francine |title=Vichy and the Eternal Feminine: A Contribution to a Political-Sociology of Gender |last2=Johnson |first2=Kathleen A. |date=2001 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-2777-6}}</ref>