Women at Home project reflection

For this project we were given 4 different options to choose from to do it on. I chose Effort of Women at Home. This paper really opened my eyes a bit to how much the view of women changed between the time before the war and the time during and even after. For example, I had found that in pre-war years only 1% of women worked jobs that got this up close in personal in industries connected to the war. Whereas during WWII the percentage rose above more than half, falling at 65%. Before this project I had never really primarily researched this topic. I mean, I had always heard about it throughout my years in history classes but we never seemed to dive into it, but now that I know what impact women and their effort had on WWII I can honestly say I am quite proud.

Not only did this project benefit me with gaining knowledge I did not have prior to doing so but it also made me proud to be a woman and also an American. Seeing as the opportunities presented to women in pervious years were very slim, I loved how many doors were opened for them during this time period. Normally women worked a few certain jobs and were homemakers. But when the ball started rolling with the help of the first lady (Eleanor Roosevelt) we were given our opportunity to shine and we sure did.

In the time before doing this project I had also seen Rosie the Riveter everywhere but again, I had limited knowledge to it. It showed how good propaganda was back then and it helped recruit many of the 310,000 women who were now part of this. It showed an empowered woman who had a strong face that read drive and determination. Rosie the Riveter is still looked at as one of the most amazing uses of propaganda in history.

Also during this project I was given the opportunity to see just the impact adding women into this had when years and years and years later in 2010, these women were awarded for their efforts by being given the congressional gold medal. This just proved to me that women really worked hard and got their recognition. This project was actually really fun for me and with having four options I was able to pick from them which one I had more of an interest in and that really worked in my favor. I also had the opportunity to pick from four formats to put this project in they were Prezzi, PowerPoint, Essay, and a video. Normally I would choose PowerPoint because of its familiarity to me but instead I chose the essay format. I thought that this choice was the best because this was the type of project that needed a lot of words not pictures/video. 

Overall, I had a great time on this essay and was happy with the options given to me and the freedom felt by choosing them myself. I was also happy that I had an interest in one of the four topics given to me. I was more than pleased with the knowledge gained of women in these war time years and the impact it had on expectations during and after.