James West Davidson and Mark Hamilton Lytles’ “From Rosie to Lucy” is a piece written to show the feminine viewpoint regarding women’s role in life after World War II. Thought I feel that equality is an important issue, I also feel that Betty Frieden and other feminists may have been a bit neurotic about pointing out blame. During World World I while the men were away fighting for the United States, women were forced to take a stand in the working world. After the world, women more-or-less went back to their original habits and men resided over their previous jobs.
Betty Frieden thought this backwards-step was horrifying and “thought there was something wrong with me because I didn’t have an orgasm waxing the kitchen floor” (312).
I feel that Frieden had every right to have strong feelings about the restraints she felt on her by the male population, but I don’t feel that every women felt that specific way. “Surveys showed that Americans, whether male or female, continued to believe that child rearing was a woman’s primary job” (319).
Frieden would argue this point by saying that commercials and other forms of mass media forced women to feel this way, but I believe that many women “wanted” to stay home and raise children. Women had the opportunity to work and if they wanted to take fulfill that option, they could. If they didn’t want to, they didn’t have to.
This is shown by the following quote: “Some 2. 25 million women did voluntarily return home after the war and another million were laid off by 1946. At the same time, 2. 75 million women entered the job market by 1947, leaving a net loss of only half a million.” (319).
The Essay on Role Of Woman In World War 1
Throughout history, the roles of women have changed dramatically. Women have been enslaved, been stripped of their rights, been given more rights, have been put down in society and been brought up. Women slowly, but surely have evolved into individuals one sees today: in public office, law firms or even the five o’clock news. However, this evolution did not occur overnight. It took time and ...
I think all the feminists during the WWII era and beyond had women’s equality at the top of their priority list, I just think they might have grouped “majorities” together and “forced” things to look more grim than they actually were. Mass media does have an influential part on our daily lives by persuading our personal opinions greatly.
But altogether, women “did” work during the war and “did” work afterwards. I’m sorry if Betty Frieden took it all too personally, I thank her for getting “the message” out there to the public, I venture to say she took feminism one step too far.
