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The Resistance Workers Of France

Decent Essays

For the Resistance workers of France, gender had a defining impact on the roles and jobs open to women where they were both utilized and supported. They played a key role in the Resistance of Vichy France from a scattering of leadership roles, to support roles, to secretarial and liaison work. These women were galvanized and motivated for different reasons: for the political, to moral, to patriotic or for the desire to do something. Even women beyond the network of the official groups of Resistance worked to shelter, protect and support Allies, their communities and Resistance efforts. Thousands of Women during the war, in the Resistance or not, followed and manipulated the stereotypes and limitations of women in the era to better service their goals. However these womanly standards curbed which positions they could fill and what respect they received. In prewar France, the stereotypical women were the homemakers of the family. Though many were formally educated, few professional jobs were open to them. After the France’s physical and morale collapse in the first months of World War II, the government propaganda proclaimed a new form of masculinity. A society built on a foundation of family, gender and biological distinct roles with a male dominated hierarchy. The antithesis of male ideal being a women who was submissive, ignorant and the home maker. These feminine ideals and values funneled many women to a support or secondary role in the Resistance. For to

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