Rosie The Riveter

Rosie the Riveter was a great documentary about what happened in World War II when all the men left for war. It was a time when women came through for their country. They went into the work force to do the work that was left behind by men. They seemed so empowered. They seemed to be able to do anything. Before this time, yes, women had jobs but they were typical jobs for women like sewing. They were the typical women cooking, cleaning and taking care of kids. Then suddenly when the men left the women stepped up. They did everything a man did like building ships and take care of their own household. Yes, there was propaganda in order to get these women to the work force. There were advertisements everywhere about helping the war effort. Women were excited because they were portrayed as strong and capable of doing anything a man could do. It was very exciting because it showed what women were capable of but after the war suddenly ended so did the image of the strong women. Suddenly the men were back and they wanted their jobs. They wanted the women to go back to their traditional roles as homemakers. The image of women during the war was one who was wearing pants and t-shirt but after the men came, back it was all about the pretty dresses and the high-heeled women in a kitchen making dinner.

Rosie the Riveter

The film Rosie the Riveter described the era of that time period. It showed that when the men went off to go fight the war, the women were left at home to basically take over. The women started to do the roles of the men. They went into the work force and did male job roles. Some of the women worked on airplanes. These women took on these new roles while the pay wasnt the best they helped out with the war effort. It was such an interesting film because it showed us that the women only took on these male jobs becuase they had to go off to fight a war. Before, the war a womans main concern was to stay home,cook, clean, and to take care of the family. While the war was going on the media got involved to get women to help out with the war efforts. They needed these women to work and buy products at the same time. This was a big change in women's roles. This helped women all over to be able to work outside the home and be able to have their own money. After the war and the men came home, they wanted to kick all the women out of their jobs they had been employed at so the men could work again. This was unfair to women all over, they beg them to work and now that the men came home they would have to leave.Now a days it seems to me that in the homes both parents are working.

Women in World War II

I feel bad for some of the women workers in World War II. Many sacraficed a lot to get into the positions they were in and mnay learned some very important skills. Yet, after the war was over, so was their new "career." Noone would hire them and they were forced to jsut go back and be housewives or go back and work in restaurants for the bare minimum pay. I feel the woman of WWII were very strong and courageous, however, I think its horrible that they were basically "used" for the years of th war and then just thrown back out in the end. I know some were happy to do this-at least that was what was shown by the media. But I know it wasn't true in every case. Especially for women who lsot loved ones in the war. Now that soldiers were returning, they were taking over the jobs the women had been in. These women who lost loved ones were now responsible for providing their families, but they couldn't do so being paid minimum wages in a restaurant. The sad part was many had the skill sbut noone would give them anymore opputunity after thye weren't "needed" anymore.

Hotel Warriors: Covering the Gulf War

Hotel Warriors: Covering the Gulf War by John Fialka offers an interesting perspective on the gulf war from the perspective of a journalist who was actually there. His experiences are especially instructive in exposing how the military sought to handle information about the war.

Fialki frequently refers to the atmosphere within which the journalists were kept as “the cacoon”. The cocoon was shaped by information barriers and restrictions imposed by the military. Fialki attributes the military’s zeal to control the press primarily to the commonly held military belief that it was false perceptions, created by the press, that were responsible for losing the Vietnam War.

'President Bush promised the public (and the Pentagon) that the effort against Iraq would not be ambiguous, contradictory, “another Vietnam” … “What this meant , in effect, was that General Schwarzkopf decided how much command support to give to public affairs officers and upwards of 1,600 media representatives in Saudi Arabia”'

As it turns out, this support was very poor indeed. Fialki points out how the public affairs office was not only understaffed, but often manned by incompotenent officers sent there as punishment. As journalists only source of information durig the war, this system led to a paucity of information and left journalists starved for any bit of 'news' given to them by the military.