ABSTRACT
In recent decades, a great deal of scholarly attention has been devoted to examining the impact of the Second World War on changing ideas about the proper role and capabilities of women. Scholars have often noted that the lack of men available for wartime production due to combat mobilization made it possible, if not mandatory in many cases, for women to take up many of men’s traditional roles, and in the process, to demonstrate the potential capabilities of women in the workforce. Thanks in great part to potent and durable symbols like ‘Rosie the Riveter’, the participation of women in wartime industry has been relatively easy to visualize and therefore readily available for analysis. Comparatively little has been written of the domestic life of women and its relation to the war effort, and virtually nothing about the mobilization of the space of the house itself. This oversight is especially puzzling given that the overwhelming majority of women did not participate in either military service or wartime industries, remaining at home to care for their families and serve the nation through their otherwise typical domestic roles and tasks.
