For women, World War II had offered an opportunity, and often the necessity, to get out of the house to work.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
It's important for women to work. They need to keep their independence, to keep earning and being challenged.
The women of Afghanistan, left behind as their men fought, did what the women of World War II did - used their wits and resourcefulness to preserve some semblance of civilization.
The history of American women is all about leaving home - crossing oceans and continents, or getting jobs and living on their own.
Women were freed from positive duties when they could not perform them, but not when they could.
The Great Depression of the 1930s saw more American unmarried women working from nine to five, mostly in repetitive, boring, subordinate, dead-end jobs. But the number of working women doubled between 1870 and 1940. During World War II it doubled once again.
In the business of war, the role of women is really to maintain normalcy and ensure that there is cultural continuity.
The influx of women into paid work and her increased power raise a woman's aspirations and hopes for equal treatment at home. Her lower wage and status at work and the threat of divorce reduce what she presses for and actually expects.
World War II affected the male population in a very detrimental way. They were happy to be home, happy to be alive, happy they won, but they could not express to anybody the horror they had been through.
The deal is that women have entered the workforce, but they have not been relieved of the domestic responsibilities.
Society has not been set up in a way that allows women to go back to work after taking time off. Many women now have to work as well as do everything at home and no one can do everything. Society needs to find a way of relieving women.