Date

8-6-2025

Department

College of Arts and Sciences

Degree

Master of Arts in History - Thesis (MA)

Chair

Luci Vaden

Keywords

world war II, world war 2, women, agency, post world war 2, post world war II

Disciplines

History

Abstract

World War II had an important impact on American women’s social and economic roles, helping them gain opportunities and skills which impacted them long after the war. While scholars have debated the exact extent and longevity of the changes, an examination of these women’s lives and the many roles they filled shows their quiet agency in making these post-war decisions. Social pressures and expectations certainly impacted their experiences, but examining their lives shows that many women also showed agency in multiple ways. More recent post-war narratives have acknowledged agency in more rebellious women but have increasingly focused on social expectations shaping post-war women and their lives. This thesis argues that postwar American women exercised quiet yet deliberate forms of agency, whether inside or outside the home, impacting their own lives with choices often overlooked in historical narratives. Using diverse oral histories, this study shows how women navigated personal, cultural, and structural constraints while maintaining their own forms of autonomy. By examining these women’s stories, historians can better understand the complexity behind women’s wartime and post-war roles, how their decisions impacted these roles, and how they impacted society in the decades afterward.

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