Extended Essay

INTRODUCTION

The ability of women to have equal rights in the United States has long been a debated issue. A right addressed by international law, until recently, has not been given to American women, while some critics believe women still do not have equal rights to this day. However, elsewhere, women of other countries, i.e. Saudi Arabia, face far less rights then the women of America. To fully understand the many factors involved in the fight for equal rights for women in America, the purpose of this anthropological investigation is to answer the following research question: Did the cultural traits and processes of cultural change for American women inflicted by the World War II era allow them to achieve social and economic equality in the United States?

Anthropological Theory Employed: Historical Particularism

The investigation references Franz Boas’ theory of historical particularism. The definition of historical particularism is:

Historical particularism is an approach that was developed by Franz Boas as an alternative to the worldwide theories of socio-cultural development as espoused by both evolutionists and extreme diffusionists, which he believed were simply unprovable. Boas believed that to overcome this, one had to carry out detailed regional studies of individual cultures to discover the distribution of culture traits and to understand the individual processes of culture change at work.

To question women’s approach during the World War II era to attain equal rights, one does not need to address the worldwide theories of socio-cultural development, unlike most anthropological studies; however, instead, a valid assortment of research is to attain detailed regional studies of cultural traits to understand the ...

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...nt, propaganda provides an example of the extremely important role women played during World War II. During the war, 18 million American women, also known as “Rosie the Riveters,” served in the U.S. labor force. Propaganda, i.e. posters, songs, and even movies, commemorated the success women achieved in the defense factories. Slogans such as “We Can Do It” and “Women in the War: We Can’t Win without Them” accelerated the energy and rallying cries of the women. It is believed by historians that without the women’s efforts, the vital home front economy could have collapsed, possibly causing the U.S. war production to disintegrate, presenting very adverse consequences. The propaganda issued during this time exemplified women’s success, as the opportunities women were given helped to save the economic home front as well as helping to liberate the American women.