“Slacks and Calluses: Our Summer in a Bomber Factory” is a book written during the time of World War II. It is about two teachers, in San Diego, who decide they need to do their part for the war effort. One of the women, Constance Bowman, is a high school Journalism and English teacher. The other woman, Clara Marie Allen, is also a high school teacher, but instead of English she teaches art. The reason for the name “Slacks and Calluses” is because these women go on a journey from women that wore skirts to women that wore work slacks.
The two women of the story go from prominent women of the schoolyard to the working class of America. The author, Constance Bowman, states “people who knew us acted as if they did not’ while ‘people who did not
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Men and women alike started belittling these working-class women that did hard labor for long hours, low pay. These people did not understand the significance of the work that was being done nor did they think the women could do it. The two teachers gave up their summer vacation to build bombers in a factory for sixty-eight cents an hour. In all actuality, these women did more for the war than most civilian men did. The two women, in the factory, stuck out like a sore thumb to most people. They had lunchboxes with only two tools in it whereas the other people had entire toolboxes. Even the foremen, “red-buttons” of the factory looked at them with disgust when they did not know how to use a ratchet or even knew what a ratchet was. These foremen also gave them small jobs such as building safety harnesses and tying electrical wires together that ran throughout the B-24, the Liberator. The women, at the time, did not really understand that these men just did not trust them with larger jobs on finishing the aircraft. The two women also started getting treated weirdly, differently because of their gender. Men saw these women that were dressed in …show more content…
Little did they know that women would play a pivotal role in building many different things in war-time factories. The differences between these two women and their fellow workers were significant. The other women had six months of training on how to perform the tasks needed to do this job. This caused a sense of distance between these women, because even their coworkers thought they were incapable of doing the job. Admittedly, the two teachers were completely unqualified to do this job, but the factories needed workers on the shift they were choosing to work so they were hired for the position. The two women, Constance and Clara Marie, thought it their civic, patriotic duty to devote themselves to the war effort in any way they could. Though they were not sure of their ability to perform, they took on the task
How sad can that be for these women to feel that they have no other option out of their marriage? In conclusion, both short stories were great at allowing the reader to see the way that women were repressed in their society in the 1900s. We don't hate the men; we just wish women did not have to be so subservient. Freedom is achieved in very unconventional ways in both of these stories, but the kind of freedom these narrators achieve is not available to most women of this time era. Works Cited Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia.
In the book “The Things They Carried” four female characters played an important role in the lives of the men. Whether imaginary or not, they showed the power that women could have over men. Though it's unknown if the stories of these women are true or not, they still make an impact on the lives of the soldiers and the main narrator.
For the first time women were working in the industries of America. As husbands and fathers, sons and brothers shipped out to fight in Europe and the Pacific, millions of women marched into factories, offices, and military bases to work in paying jobs and in roles reserved for men in peacetime. Women were making a living that was not comparable to anything they had seen before. They were dependent on themselves; for once they could support the household. Most of the work in industry was related to the war, such as radios for airplanes and shells for guns. Peggy Terry, a young woman who worked at a shell-loading plant in Kentucky, tells of the money that was to be made from industrial work (108). “We made a fabulous sum of thirty-two dollars a week. To us that was an absolute miracle. Before that, we made nothing (108)." Sarah Killingsworth worked in a defense plant. " All I wanted to do was get in the factory, because they were payin more than what I'd been makin. Which was forty dollars a week, which was pretty good considering I'd been makin about twenty dollars a week. When I left Tennessee I was only makin two-fifty a week, so that was quite a jump (114)." Terry had never been able to provide for herself as she was able to during the war. " Now we'd have money to buy shoes and a dress and pay rent and get some food on the table. We were just happy to have work (108).” These women exemplify the turn around from the peacetime to wartime atmosphere on the home front. The depression had repressed them to poverty like living conditions. The war had enabled them to have what would be luxury as compared to life before.
For both women, their motivations all lead back in some way to social expectations, although one woman is trying to conform to them and the other is trying to defy them. Works Cited Meyer, Michael, ed., pp. 113-117. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. New York: Bedfort/St. Martin, J.D., 1999.
“At the war’s end, even though a majority of women surveyed reported wanted to keep their jobs, many were forced out by men returning home and by the downturn in demand for war materials… The nation that needed their help in
The women encountered discrimination from the government and other male soldiers but, The WASP exchanged roles with male pilots. Giving the WASP women the opportunity of a lifetime. These women would make sure that those marvelous aircraft built by the "Rosies" were ready for combat service overseas. The “Rosies” was a cultural icon of the U.S. representing women who worked in factories and shipyards during this era.
When all the men were across the ocean fighting a war for world peace, the home front soon found itself in a shortage for workers. Before the war, women mostly depended on men for financial support. But with so many gone to battle, women had to go to work to support themselves. With patriotic spirit, women one by one stepped up to do a man's work with little pay, respect or recognition. Labor shortages provided a variety of jobs for women, who became street car conductors, railroad workers, and shipbuilders. Some women took over the farms, monitoring the crops and harvesting and taking care of livestock. Women, who had young children with nobody to help them, did what they could do to help too. They made such things for the soldiers overseas, such as flannel shirts, socks and scarves.
The setting of both stories reinforces the notion of women's dependence on men. The late 1800's were a turbulent time for women's roles. The turn of the century brought about revolution, fueled by the energy and freedom of a new horizon…but it was still just around the bend. In this era, during which both short stories were published, members of the weaker sex were blatantly disregarded as individuals, who had minds that could think, and reason, and form valid opinions.
hard working women as whores and lesbians and felt the women on the front lines of combat were only there for the moral support of the male troops. These false accusations humiliated the women and had a huge impact on the attitudes of people and policies regarding women in front line combat for the decades to come” (Moskos 54). Along with these accusations came the tests of the military manpower and strategies.
In 1943, not only had the female population contributed exponential numbers in support of the war but women had begun to dominate. Reports indicate that more than 310,000 women worked in the U.S. aircraft industry; this made up more than half of the total workforce. Prior to this moment in history, women’s involvement in the aircraft industry was merely one percent. Despite the manifestation of Rosie the Riveter propaganda and the continuous push to recruit women, they still were not granted equal pay for their services.
...as Mary Ann in the novel show that women can do so much more than sew and cook. Without women, all wars would have been a lot harder. Although men tend to keep a macho facade in order to calm others (such as the women in their lives), inside they may be like glass, easy to break. A society set on the ideal stoic, fearless warrior who acts ruthlessly and saves the damsel in distress (also showing that women are weak) obviously is one where doomed to sexism. Without the comfort and inspiration, men would have deteriorated in the face of death. All and all, women provided the needed comfort, nursing, “manpower”, and love that the soldiers of Vietnam need, something that helped them endure the havoc of war. O’Brien’s expert use of the feminist lens allows the reader to know that women indeed were a powerhouse in the Vietnam war, without whom, men would have perished.
Since the war began women were led to believe that they were the ones who had to be the patriotic sacrifice until the men came home from war. The film reveals how the government used the media to alternately urge women to give up such elements of their feminin...
This was the start of a new age in the history for women. Before the war a woman’s main job was taking care of her household more like a maid, wife and mother. The men thought that women should not have to work and they should be sheltered and protected. Society also did not like the idea of women working and having positions of power in the workforce but all that change...
Throughout time women have been written as the lesser sex, weaker, secondary characters. They are portrayed as dumb, stupid, and nothing more than their fading beauty. They are written as if they need to be saved or helped because they cannot help themselves. Women, such as Daisy Buchanan who believes all a woman can be is a “beautiful little fool”, Mrs Mallard who quite died when she lost her freedom from her husband, Eliza Perkins who rights the main character a woman who is a mental health patient who happens to be a woman being locked up by her husband, and then Carlos Andres Gomez who recognizes the sexism problem and wants to change it. Women in The Great Gatsby, “The Story of an Hour,” “The Yellow Wall Paper” and the poem “When” are oppressed because the fundamental concept of equality that America is based on undermines gender equality.
The story Little Women takes place at a time when women were taking on uncustomary roles like physical laborer, family protector and provider, and military volunteer while their husbands served during the Civil War. Keeping within the boundaries of the time, Louisa May Alcott uses herself and her own three sisters to create this classical novel from personal experiences. Each sister is different. They each set goals and dreams for their selves whether it goes along with their contemporary society or not. With the assistance of their mother, friends and experiences, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy struggle between their personal expectations and society’s expectations as they plan for their future and choose their destinies.