Wartime Women: A Mass-Observation Anthology

by Dorothy Sheridan

A unique document offering unrivalled insight into women's minds and lives during the Second World War.

The Mass-Observation organisation was set up in 1937 with the aim of recording everyday life in Britain. Dorothy Sheridan has plundered its astonishingly rich archives to put together this anthology of women's experience in the Second World War. What was this experience? How far did it go to liberate women? Was it the opportunity that so many expected or was it simply six years of deprivation, hard work and pain?

WARTIME WOMEN allows us to explore these questions through the writings of women living through the war years. Dorothy Sheridan has chosen extracts from the whole range of Mass-Observation material including research reports, letters, dairies and detailed questionnaires.
The range of contributors is enormous from a fish and chip shop worker in Birmingham to Irish immigrant munitions factory workers, young women welders in Yorkshire and a seventeen-year-old schoolgirl in Essex.

'My horror of all this war business is qualified by an eagerness to be a unit of it. I feel as if I have been waiting for this all my life and I have just realised it' A young woman writing in her diary in September, 1939.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, Womens, Biography Memoir

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Eden · Rating 3 out of 5]

2020 bk 186 Another of the Mass Observation books - I did not enjoy it as much as the other MO based books I've read because only about half the book were diary entries. In addition, instead of focusing on a handful of people, each section introduced us to only a little bit of a mindset of different women, with only a very few repeating. It left me feeling incomplete as i wanted to know what happened to the individuals. The remainder of the book were the sociological reports on different aspects of being a woman in war (ex: should women cease working outside the home after the war, what was local morale like, how had the war changed their lives). While interesting, I was not in the mood for academic jargon, I wanted the stories of the women themselves.

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not rating people's accounts of wartime. Those were all raw and powerful. I'm rating this book as an anthology and I feel that there should have been more of a theme to the writings. I felt that there was a little too many practical accounts (people examining their friends views of work and politics etc.) and I would've liked more of the direct, emotional and opinionated diary entries. Also less of the Mass-Observation reports, as although these could be interesting I picked up this book to read personal accounts of life during that time and not the facts and statistics of how many women were in work.

Overall a fascinating insight into women's lives during WWII though not as good as it could've been.

[Lissa Sloan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting slice of life from wartime Britain home front. I wish there had been more of the diaries and personal accounts and less of the mass observation reports.

[Adam Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting dip into the Mass-Obs archives, offering the chance to sample women's perspectives on wartime life through diary entries, reports, questionnaires and letters.

The contribution of women to the war effort was often something of an afterthought for the male decision-makers, which is reflected at a number of points throughout. This anthology reminds us of what these decision-makers sometimes overlooked, that even in wartime, life went on. Women were (understandably) often more concerned about their children's health, their sex lives, their marriages, and the latest local gossip, rather than the terror of war.

They also continued (also understandably) to act with measured self-interest rather than unbounded patriotism. Many women made great sacrifices, yet we also meet those who, for example, didn't want to welcome evacuees or troops without asking what was in it for them. Rose-tinted spectacles can obscure the reality of such experiences.

I was also struck by the confusion about whether the war had actually ended or not, while people waited for Churchill's official announcement, eagerly gathering around the wireless at 1800 to see if there was news. Things would be very different today, of course, and yet I suspect the confusion would still be the same. We have easier access to information, but also easier access to speculation!

If you're interested in Home Front history, this collection would be worth a look.

[Katia M. Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first collection of wiring for Mass Observation I've read. It was really wit interesting and I felt like a fly on the wall peering into peoples' lives. Covering the war years, this publication gives an excellent insight into the experiences of women at home, at work, in service and at play (although there wasn't much time for that). If you are after real experiences of wartime activities and reactions to things such as the black out, bombing, rationing, conscripted working etc., this is the ideal read. This really did transport me through time, but more than that, it brought the observers to life. Some things never change, but I found some of the opinions expressed somewhat surprising, especially regarding equality and Communism. I found this an excellent read. The extracts chosen gave the collection many distinctive voices. A great resource for anyone wanting to know more about this time period in Britain.

[Mélie Nasr · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm impressed by the concept: thousands of men and women writing their everyday thoughts to Mass Observation, to be analysed and archived. Without this very unique endeavour, it would be harder to have an accurate idea of the diverse thoughts running through women's heads' during the war.

I wasn't as moved by this anthology as by books by Svetlana Alexievich, who is a master at collecting and presenting interviews (she's a Nobel prize winner, at that). In that regard, this book feels like it's to be used by academics, more than casual readers. It's a shame because it would do the women in this book more justice if we were able to get across more of the "literature" in their lives.

[K. A. MacKinnon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection tried to be a little bit of everything and lacked focus somewhat as a result. It ends up as a sampling of all the different kinds of material the Mass Observation project has to offer, not all of which were equally interesting. Personally, I would have preferred more diary excerpts and fewer mass observation reports and summaries.

[Fran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book that I read slowly so I could savor the stories of their life at the time. Maybe not all were written in a way that I love, but one can take out the pieces of importance. I was a little miffed here and there that a man's voice was overlapping it. Not sure how to word that, but this was done in a sort of way. Still worth reading.

[Denni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating, with some entries much what I expected but so many not, and a real grasp of circumstances and politics (small p) from very many of the women who participated.

[Sarah Stocks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did find this interesting....real people, real history....would like to have seen more personal diaries throughout and less analysis....important reading that resonates with issues still today.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing and thought provoking read

[Freya · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars - very interesting to read people's thoughts of the time. Both how much has changed in some ways, but also how some things don't change at all.

[Gail · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating collection of writing from women covering the Second World War and their daily lives.

[Ellen Goldfinch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some accounts are fascinating. Some of the reports are dry and hard to get through. Still, I always enjoy reading primary historical accounts.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful collection of extracts that make the daily life of the war extremely real and accessible. I loved reading this.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wartime Women is an anthology of material taken from the Mass-Observation Archive at the University of Sussex, comprising writing by and about women living in wartime Britain. Mass-Observation was founded in 1937 by a group of young upper-classmen who wanted to create ‘an anthropology of ourselves’. At first they set out to observe and interview, and to record ordinary people's behaviour and conversations.

Just before the outbreak of the Second World War, Mass-Observation advertised in newspapers and books for members of the public to 'observe themselves' and write about their lives for the organisation. Not all of them wrote full diaries; most of them just responded to the monthly ‘directive’ - a questionnaire or request for thoughts around a particular theme.

Throughout the war paid and trained observers continued to conduct surveys and interviews, which provided information about working class attitudes and feelings which might not otherwidse have been recorded.

I have long been fascinated by the work of Mass-Observation (which is still going, in a smaller way) and this book didn't disappoint. It is so valuable to have these stories, in women's own words, of life in wartime Britain. Fascinating, moving, and inspiring.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the mixture of diaries was fascinating and I learned so much about women during the war - also found people's views on what the future might hold very interesting, seeing as the future they were talking of was our present or recent past!
Most excellent book, highly recommended.

[Aarti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great study on women in the UK during the war! I could have read for another 200 pages.

[Guestford_junkie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this really hard work to read but once I got into the stle of writing, I was hooked and inhaled the book and it's history in the space of two days.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super, an excellent snapshot of some of the mass of material in the Mass Obs archives. I wish it had been 10 x as long, this is only a taster and I long to know more.
Reality TV for the pre-TV age

[Hels Kundman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating insights