Ep. 8: Rosie (The Home Front)

By: Audible Originals, Martin Sheen

[Contains explicit content] Rosie the Riveter has become one of the most iconic and empowering images of women in World War II, but at the time, many men simply did not believe that women could do the jobs needed, whether in factories or in the military. And for women, war work wasn’t limited to the assembly line. Hear from individuals who struggled to meet the competing pressures of being a lady, a worker, and available for soldiers going overseas.

©2017 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2017 Audible Originals, LLC

very informative !

learned alot. was surprised how little I knew about this phase of the world war.

Complicated opportunities for women

WW II provided an explosion of opportunities for women, provided they didn't mind being demeaned, paid less, or outright prostituted. This episode explores the friction of creating new work roles for women in a society unwilling to reassess gender roles. But the war needed workers and beggars can't be choosers. However, you can't put the genie back in the bottle and there was no going back to pre-WW II ideals of docile, domestic, subservient femininity.