Women and WWII

I have a theory that governments and propaganda people are mainly responsible for sexism, racism and classism. After much studying on women's roles in society during WWII, I declare that I'm correct (as always.)

The mid 1940's are the only time in U.S. history when feminism was encouraged and celebrated. Women were told to go get jobs because it was their "patriotic duty." They were told to leave the kitchen and volunteer for the Red Cross. They were even encouraged to do thing such as fly planes for the military and play professional baseball. Women who worked in factories were offered affordable child care and businesses made adjustments for female workers, such as adding restrooms.

After the war, those same people encouraging women to get out of the house and get a job were telling women to go back home and forget about having a career. What was the deal with that?

After a few short years of the government telling everyone that women are sometimes better workers than men, they started telling women that jobs belong to men and they can find fulfillment at home with their children.

Why the change? If they all thought women made better factory workers, why didn't they keep the women employed and tell the men returning from the war to stay home and take care of the kids?

I have speculated on this question for many hours and have come up with a few different theories. My first theory is a little out there, yet valid. Men back in the 1940's era were lazy. Not lazy like they wanted to sit around doing nothing all day. I mean lazy like they expected someone else to do their laundry, take care of their house, raise their children and manage their finances for them. I think once they realized that women being out of the house for substantial periods of time meant they may have to chip in on some of this stuff, they went, "O F No!" I can't work all day AND cook my own dinner. Or, more likely, they didn't know how to do all this stuff and didn't want to learn or make any effort. So, a big group of men got together and created some propaganda designed to keep women in the house and out of the workforce. And it worked wonders for them.

My second theory is a bit more complex. I think most people were willing to adjust their whole lives for the war effort. That meant everything from giving up certain foods to allowing women to fill "men's roles." And I think that after the war everyone assumed things would go back to the way they were before without any hassles. They probably didn't expect that women would actually ENJOY working and making their own money. And perhaps this was a surprise to a lot of the women as well. So, after the war, they just assumed all women workers would gladly give up their jobs for the returning men workers. And most women probably thought it was their "patriotic duty" to give up their jobs to the men.

I acknowledge that is was difficult for the whole country to adjust to normalcy after WWII ended. But it must have been especially hard for women who had a taste of freedom and a better life and then to have it taken away from them.

I find the 1950's fascinating. Everything from McCarthyism to women's fashion in the 50's interests me. But I have a special fascination with how fake and backwards everything appeared. I mean, really? Women found fulfillment at home with their children? Sylvia Plath went that route in the 1950's after college and things didn't work out too well for her.

To sum up my awesome thoughts, I think governments all over the world are master propagandists and have the power to make people think anything they want them to. Including that feminism is only needed when it's convenient for them.