Monday, August 26, 2013
Women have not changed over the last century. Our status in society has changed since WWII and we have women like my Grandmother to thank for that. Our world had to call on so many men in WWII that women were actually taken on in desperation to fulfill the duties left behind by those men. This was a major step in the direction of equality for women.
Women were taking on jobs that men were doing for decades in the military. Every last man was needed because we almost wiped out an entire generation in WWI. So, women took over these empty secretarial and clerk posts in the military. The WAVES were in the Navy while the WACS (Women's Army Corp) were only with the Army as an auxiliary branch. By the 1950s, those types of positions were considered women's work, but a mere decade earlier it was completely shocking for them to have such a role at all. When the war ended, many of the returning soldiers did take their positions back, but the kindling for the fire of the sexual revolution was sparked. The very next generation set that sexual revolution fire ablaze.
And what is my Grandmother worrying about? The fact that she has to do the dance in front of an audience again. She think she looks like a big cow up on the stage. Not the truth that she is making huge strides for her gender, but the idea that she sticks out like a dancing bovine in a program with 11 other people! Then there's me, who lives in a world where we question a woman's moral fiber and character upon the length of her hem line. I can only imagine what it was like in the 40s with parents who were born in the 1800s.
Women have come a long way, but until we stop shaming each other, the world will continue to shame us.
Special Thanks to the US Navy Band and The Sea Chanters for recording this
Credit to: Jeff Malet Photography
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