ABSTRACT
Twice in this century world war on a scale not hitherto experienced has necessitated a mobilization of our whole society in a way that is also new. There has been a good deal of debate amongst historians as to the long-term effects of this on society; some, amongst them Richard Titmuss (1950; also Marwick 1973), have attributed important developments in welfare provision to the influence of total war, others have sought to demonstrate its unimportance as an accelerator of social change (Milward (1971) discusses this debate); I shall seek in this chapter to show the way in which war has revealed quite glaringly the contradictory nature of women’s lives, has shown new possibilities for social organization, yet has also revealed why these possibilities are cast aside once peace has returned. In general, total war, and particularly the Second
World War, appears as a period of excitement, an upsurge of energy, participation, and co-operative effort (Longmate 1973). Arthur Marwick (1968) likens war to a wedding-a heightened experience offsetting by contrast the dull routine of everyday life, startling and rebellious. For women it has been like marriage in a different sense, since for them it has reinforced the conventions while purporting to offer new freedoms.
