Women's Roles during World War II
Uploaded by CaseyP on May 20, 2017
Campbell’s book reveals the tension that was caused by the women in America through the divergence between their actual and idealized tasks in the society. The book surveys broad and critical aspects that other historians had investigated in detail. It is a comprehensive evaluation of the experiences of women during the Second World War. Also, it gives a wide-ranging review of the working women. The book provides a welcoming analysis of proof and the interpretation of matters that are critical to the understanding of the women’s history in America. It provides challenges to the prevailing wisdom, as well as the perceptions of other scholars.
Campbell argues that World War II did not encompass a watershed in the history of the participation of the American women in the labor force. Neither the women nor the society were ready for a critical change of values. The perception was that a woman’s main roles were at home in which, she was to be a mother and a wife. The author agrees that women made vital contributions to the war. However, they were at war with their country too. They were eager to be part of the country’s labor force, industrial capacity, and technology.
Honey’s book indicates that the recruitment posters, newsreels, and advertisements largely portrayed the white women as concerned mothers, defense plant employees, dedicated wives, and army women. Conversely, the African-American women also participated in every aspect that involved the home-front activities during the Second World War, however, they were not considered as important to the nation building as the white women who took part in the war. The numerous white images left for posterity faces, such as Rosie the Riveter doubting the African-American women’s contributions to the war struggle.
Honey notes that the customary literature anthologies of Blacks in America jump from the Harlem Renaissance to the 1960s with no or little reference to the years between such periods. The book not only sheds light on the literature of such years, but it also presents the Black women’s image as activists in the community that weakened the sex typecasts of the Second World War period.