Women's Role Of Women: Life Before And After World War II

Life before and after World War II drastically changed for women. Women gained experiences during the war time that has impacted themselves still today. The men who were eligible were sent off to fight leaving women responsible for filling their shoes and maintaining home life simultaneously. This left the door open for women like Constance Bowman and Clara Marie Allen to gain the opportunities to work in jobs previously only assigned to men. Bowman and Allen give real life accounts in the book regarding topics about social class, patriotism, and the idea of women leaving the home. Social class among women in the eyes of Constance and Clara were the women who wore slacks and those who wore skirts. Constance states “that is was a great shock to C.M. and me to find that being a lady depended more upon our clothes than upon ourselves.” (p. 69) When taking the Point Luma bus the women in blue slacks were forced to stand since no man got up to let them sit, but when a women in a skirt whether she was lady-like enough to deserve it, had the men leaping up for them. The girls tested this idea one evening and got dressed in their best clothes and rode the bus, sure enough they had the men jumping up for them as well. Their idea was proven to be true. “Clothes… make the women- …show more content…
But leaving the home life caused some changes in the social standing of some women- slacks verse skirt idea that was true when tested by Constance and Clara. Working on the production line was not the only option for women when it came to war efforts some just took the opportunity head on even though they did not enjoy themselves. In the summer Constance and Clara spent working on a plane production line they were a part of something that changed the way women were viewed within society that is still in effect