that they risked getting shot down by the enemy en route whilst delivering the planes. Our own Queen worked as a mechanic during the war years, serving her country in a practical way like so many other women of the day.
This phenomenon occurred in virtually all industrialized nations on a wartime’s footing. In the united States, ‘Rosie the Riveter’ symbolized the crucial role played by women filling jobs exclusively performed by men.
My admiration for the women of that age is strong as they paved the way by showing the menfolk what women are really capable of. Unfortunately for them, when the men returned
from war, they returned to what remained of the factories and the women were expected to return to the home and be 'good little housewives'.
However, fortunately for us today, women retained their new sense of independence and the birth of the Information Age offered many new career opportunities for ladies. Even so, in most cases their roles were still limited to 'socially acceptable' activities, and promotions beyond low
level supervisory positions were rare.
At some point during the next few decades some women decided that the only way forward was to take the men head on. That meant that they had to think and act like men to break through the 'old boys club' management ranks and pursue their own career ambitions. This age saw the birth of the woman in a 'power suit' as she learned that her feminine attire was harmful to her career. Women had to learn office politics and conform to the way men did business to get ahead. The soft skills that women naturally excel at were undervalued by upper management and women learned that they had to be ruthless to get ahead. Even so, many women still found that they eventually banged their head on that proverbial glass ceiling and reached a point where their career could go no further.
A few women have managed to make it to the top in the corporate world and we are now beginning to see more women bosses in the FTSE 100 companies, in the sporting world (as exampled
by the Williams & Sauber F1 teams who have lady bosses in a very male dominated sport), and there are many women who are now considered 'respected experts' in their fields. However, in order to get to the top, these women often have to sacrifice family time and live with the regret of not being there for those special moments with their children.
For the working women of today, the choice to work instead of staying home for the kids often means putting children in childcare for all or part of the day. Ironically, the cost of this often absorbs much of the extra income that the
woman has by going to work. She finds herself in a constant whirlwind off dropping kids off somewhere, working, picking the kids up and then playing taxi while the kids attend various
Cover of the published music to the song "Rosie the Riveter" (1942).
...there is plenty of evidence of this male dominated egocentric business attitude in the Information Age that we are currently living in.
64 | Ceres Magazine | Spring 2016