Working Womens During World War II

1223 Words3 Pages

This essay will be focusing on women who worked during the world war two and their roles in the community. Not only would it focus on their roles it will also look at the fashion of these women; what they wore to work during the war, after the war and what is being worn to work nowadays. The research on the fashion change relates to my work the most as i’ve tried to portray the changes in the fashion of these working class women, what it means and how it shows off women as a being. Even though most of the women that worked during the second world war were said to be in the middle-class range this essay will focus on the working-class females in the society. One of the major subject matter in this essay will be the “Rosie the Riveter” poster although created by various artist during the World War II, the meanings in each posters mirrored the next. Also this essay will reflect on some of the numerous female war artists that used women to portray strength, elegance and raw femininity.

During the World War II women's role were focused on one thing, taking over what used to be the roles of men. Although jobs such as being a nurse, a teacher or working in the textile department swing and making clothes were still essentially classified as the typical “woman's job”, the war provided them not so much a gateway but a wider job opportunity to work in different fields. Such as in munitions factories, earning the name Munitionettes and working in the Armed Forces. In the munitions factories the women worked in all manner of production ranging from making ammunition to uniforms to aircrafts. They counted bullets which were sent to the soldiers at war, they mended aircrafts used by pilots during the war to shoot down enemies like birds in the sky.
In relation to my work, the rationing of clothes during the second world war influenced the fashion of the working-class women as it became harder to find materials to make outfits, which then bought on the problem of too little material. The women working in the factories wore simple clothings such as overalls for the mere fact that it was comfortable, cheap, quick and easy to wear. The women carried large appropriate handbags to keep tools, rationing books and their essentials.

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