These sites all explain the roles that women began to undertake during the war and also how these roles differ to that of the 1930s.
Basically the women needed to be recruited by the government and business to replace the men who went to war, whilst some women where also deployed in the army this was a bit less common. Prior to this, women were expected to be the homemakers, cooking, cleaning, knitting, washing, looking after children etc and a few went to work in jobs like housekeeping for the middle classes. However, once the women were married and had children it was extremely rare for them to be working. The real shift in gender expectations and what women felt they were capable of was down to the war and the jobs that the women undertook whilst still being the housekeeper and during a time of distress and austerity. You can imagine that if you suddenly realised that you possess these capabilities and then told after the war that you should go back to being the simple housewife whilst the men took there jobs back, you would feel empowered to make change. This eventually happened.
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| Womens Air Force Poster |
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| Poster to encourage Women to Help Evacuation |
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| Women's Land Army Poster |
What I really find interesting is this shift in expectations women had in themselves pre-war and post war and how the events in the middle caused this. This links back to the yin-yang concept because the women having the masculine roles maybe felt more complete and this reflects the harmony and balance of masculinity and femininity.
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