A woman's hardships

Women in war did not only have 'special' jobs, but what happened on the homefront was equal to what happened to women and they were involved in almost every aspect of war. Woman had to evacuate and leave their children behind and accustom to living in another woman’s house according to her life and deal with the problems on the host family. They took on the roles of the men in the household such as gardening as well as doing everything they had previously done before. In some cases the woman had to cope with death (or if lucky, absence) of their loved one and due to sexual moral standards changing many woman fell pregnant to American soldiers. Another problem they had to face was learning to cook nutritious food without the essentials like flour or lard. Even dressing became an issue as they had to mend most of their clothes as they could not afford to buy new ones. Woman had to make blackout curtains which had to be closed up every night and the window panes had to be taped. Woman took their children and slept underground for safety, and they made up the majority of people who slept underground during the war. After an air raid they were the ones who had to clean up the mess and spend sleepless nights with their men because they had to work during the daytime. Among all this they had to volunteer for the Women’s Voluntary Service in which they set up tea canteens in bombed areas, looked after injured and traumatized victims and handled Incident Enquiry posts. A woman’s ‘job’ in war would be considered to some ever more terrifying than fighting for your life due to the trauma and stress that could last a lifetime.