I will be the first to admit that my perception of a housewife hasn't always been that flattering. Having never quite experienced a stay-at-home wife or mother I drew many of my beliefs what what I could pick up from the media. I saw housewives as women who had given up their independence and voice in the community to cater to a husband or family. I must say that Women Strike for Peace greatly changed my viewpoint on what it meant to identify as a housewife. The women didn't have to become masculinized or militant to get their point across. They benefited from the motherly, nurturing, expert on life role that society has placed upon them. Instead of fighting back against it, they used it to their advantage. It was this exact identity that I had previously thought had held women back that actually gave rise to their voice and ability to make a change.
What I thought was most impressive was the WSP's non-leadership. Even though the vision of the WSP was a central one - they believed in disarmament and a world free of nuclear weapons - how they approached each situation could be taken from either a national or local standpoint. So in one instance women from all over the country can meet to march on the Pentagon and in another instance different women in different localities could choose which, and how, they wanted to support different peace platform politician. This non-centralized leadership allowed the women to breeze past HUAC when they tried to pin down communist infiltration on them.
One thing that is harder to empathize with or understand is the fear that these women were living in in which they had to constantly fear for their children's lives everyday, even in the possibility that milk was contaminated. Yes, we are technically in a state of war with various Middle Eastern countries but no one here in America (unless they have a family member in service) think about it. As they say, "Out of site, out of mind."
I was also impacted by the way that WSP women avoided assimilation in their resistance. It makes me think a lot about choices and what it means to being making a choice. In many ways we are limited in what choices we can make. There is a dichotomy ingrained in patriarchy that says women are week, private, emotional and men are strong, capable a logic and reason, and in control. In attempting to reshape this dichotomy, it is possible to access power within the limits of it.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard for me to say whether the WSP women were making a choice. From Amy Swerdlow's descriptions, it seemed as though the women were doing things in the only way they could think of. Non-leadership was so important and empowering, every woman was a leader.
Thanks for posting!
just like you i thought the same things about housewifes until i read this book. I agree with you that they used the motherly, caring role to their advantage, but at the same time I wonder if it hurt them? By adhering to the gender roles set by society, did it benefit or harm them? Did people see them as just being "mothers" and possibly not leaders? In no way am I trying to go against what you are saying or putting down as I agree it with it, but rather wondering if their actions had any impacts on the ways they were viewed by society.
ReplyDeletegood post!
Like Molly and Spencer, I thought a lot about the choices these women made to shape themselves as mothers first. I think from the beginning these women were not the typical housewife seen in the 1950s domestic life style. One possible reason behind the women taking action is that the times had already changed to create a more open space for protest in general. Between the civil rights, women liberation, etc. many people were fighting for many things. To create new space for a new movement, these women had to find a new identity that didn't overlap with previous identities fighting for different movements. I think these women had no other option but to carefully craft the rhetoric they used during their protests around motherhood. I am left wondering what would have happened if these women self identified as feminist fighting for peace?
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