Girl Power

It has taken us a while, but women have come a long way. We have made advances in the workforce, in politics, and in society.  Years ago, the responsibilities women had were to have children, take care of those children and tend to the  home… and that was pretty much it. But times have been changing, slowly, but they have been changing. For example, in the year 1920 the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote, and in 1981 Sandra Day O’Connor became the first woman on the Supreme Court. Recently, in 2007, Nancy Pelosi  became the first woman to lead the House of Representatives. These are just a few examples of how far women have come overtime.

To relate this to the topic of war, the role of the women during war times has also evolved. In Vera Brittain’s book, Testament of Youth, Brittain left Oxford University in 1915 to become a nurse in the war.

” …I gratefully accepted the somewhat prosaic alternative to my heroic visions; and when, a few days later, I sat surrounded by coloured wools in the hospital’s vaccine-room and attacked the colossal holes, I felt that I had advanced at least one step nearer to Roland and the war” (140).

Now, as of 2009 women make up approximately 20% of the military, and the roles they take on are positions traditionally filled by men.  The other day I was reading a post on spouse buzz  regarding women and the Navy. The post talks about how the Navy is considering staffing female sailors on their subs. This topic is controversial among some people, according to a poll 68% feel that is it not a good idea. I’m not quite sure what their logic is behind not approving of this, but I believe this is just another one of the hurdles women will soon overcome.  We have accomplished a lot in the last 100+ years, and we are just getting started…

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