Women of the 20th century are not what people expect them to be. They were not slaving in the kitchen all afternoon making their family dinner or spending mornings cleaning the house or mending a hole in a sock. The women acquired men’s roles during World War I, while still needing to thrive in their own household responsibilities. Between 1914 and 1918, roughly 1,600,000 women joined the work force in government departments, post offices, and factories (Martin). Pat Barker in Regeneration uses Sarah to represent the common experience women shared during World War I. Barker uses Sarah to show how gender roles completely changed during World War I. Andrew Green states, “Ideas of manhood and womanhood, for example were challenged, causing
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Prior to the war, a woman’s role was to be a mother, caretaker of her husband and children, and clean the house. As soon as the men left for war, women’s expectations completely transformed. Now, women also had to work to be able to support themselves and their children, in addition to fulfilling their everyday motherly duties. During this time, all that mattered to people who were not in the war was productivity in the factories. “There was no work/life balance on offer. In order to keep the piece (or peace) with demand from the front line, 12 hour shifts were common- and some women worked 13 days without a break” (BBC). The expectations of women also changed drastically during the war. Women were always seen as the nurturing figure that produced children to make a family. From 1914-1918, men were not home to fulfill these obligations. Therefore, babies were not being born and women were not becoming mothers. Also, by the time many of the men who survived the war returned to their hometowns, their bodies were dismembered or maimed. Kaley Joyes describes the returning veteran this way: “Women no longer look at him: Tonight he noticed how the women’s eyes/Passed from him to the strong men that were whole” (169). This is a sad revelation because many of the men signed up for the war to impress the women. After the men returned from the war, women only wanted the men that were whole and strong, not men that were missing limbs, thin, or
Prior to the war, a woman’s role was to be a mother, caretaker of her husband and children, and clean the house. As soon as the men left for war, women’s expectations completely transformed. Now, women also had to work to be able to support themselves and their children, in addition to fulfilling their everyday motherly duties. During this time, all that mattered to people who were not in the war was productivity in the factories. “There was no work/life balance on offer. In order to keep the piece (or peace) with demand from the front line, 12 hour shifts were common- and some women worked 13 days without a break” (BBC). The expectations of women also changed drastically during the war. Women were always seen as the nurturing figure that produced children to make a family. From 1914-1918, men were not home to fulfill these obligations. Therefore, babies were not being born and women were not becoming mothers. Also, by the time many of the men who survived the war returned to their hometowns, their bodies were dismembered or maimed. Kaley Joyes describes the returning veteran this way: “Women no longer look at him: Tonight he noticed how the women’s eyes/Passed from him to the strong men that were whole” (169). This is a sad revelation because many of the men signed up for the war to impress the women. After the men returned from the war, women only wanted the men that were whole and strong, not men that were missing limbs, thin, or