Women and Evacuation in the Second World War: Femininity, Domesticity and Motherhood

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Description

Groups of young evacuees, standing on railway stations with gas masks and cardboard suitcases have become an iconic image of wartime Britain, but their histories have eclipsed those of women whose domestic lives were affected. This book explores the effects of this unparalleled interference in the domestic lives of women, looking at the impact on everyday experience and on ideas of femininity, domesticity and motherhood. Maggie Andrews argues that wartime evacuation is important for understanding the experience and the contested meanings of domesticity and motherhood in the 20th century. As this book shows, evacuation represents a significant and unrecognised area of women's war work, and precipitated the rise of competing public discourses about domestic labour and motherhood.

Reviews

A path-breaking account of the women involved in various aspects of the evacuation process. The book is a rich mixture of analytical precision and personal testimony, presenting a compelling story of the women involved in each stage of evacuation: from mothers waving goodbye to their children, to the women who helped smooth their way, to the women who struggled with the challenges of bringing up other womens children, through to themainly female teachers who acted in loco parentis. * Midland History Journal *
[Women and Evacuation in the Second World War] makes an important and necessary contribution to the historiography of evacuation and will undoubtedly become a key text for those interested in the social history of Britain during the Second World War. * Histoire sociale/Social History *
This is an engaging account that brings to life the impact of the Second World Wars evacuation experiences on adult women and especially on mothers with empathy for its subject and a keen awareness of why these stories matter. It makes a valuable contribution to the history of women in this war and in modern Britain more generally. * Susan R. Grayzel, Professor of History, Utah State University, USA *

Author Bio

Maggie Andrews is Professor of Cultural History at the University of Worcester, UK.