Lucile Votta Analysis

Opportunity was a major theme given to women during the war, and especially of colored people as well, as in the case of Naomi, as the operation of war facilities, notably Federal Products, gave her a job in manufacturing precision instruments and gauges. Not only the war presented opportunities to many people, it also gave them a sense of patriotism. However, it was after the war that all four women had profound experiences: Lucile Votta, a nurse in the Philippines participated as a maid of honor in a wedding, and came back to San Francisco with cheering towards her and the crew. Eileen Hughes would be able to get her wish to join the army, as she would be stationed in Korea, during the Korean War. Judith Cohen could reflect on her experiences – meeting her husband, participate in activism, meeting other individuals, and being armed services, even though she does not recommend war to build someone’s way of life. Naomi Craig would later experience that the war would have no impact whatsoever postwar towards racial prejudice,

As in the case of Naomi, she was given some financial freedom- an experience many women did not have before World War 2 started, as the majority were confined to working within the household. The sense of spending without having to ask their husbands for money gave them a sense of independence. This allowed her to participate in the consumer spending culture that happened after WW2, giving freedom to spend whatever they pleased. Because of this, there was a shift in traditional roles: as Naomi stated: “a lot of them didn’t know how to be wives anymore because they had gotten kind of bossy”. Another example towards attitudes on spending was a sense of realization, as told by Judith: “That $50, to me, was the first real spending money I had ever had in my life”. This shift in traditional roles was reflected by the massive consumer spending by both women and men alike after