Busy and Bored: The Politics of Work and Leisure for Women Workers in Second World War British Government Hostels

Review of periodical literature published in 2010

“…Time away from work has been tackled in a number of ways, exploring the implications of gender, space, class, and region. Dawson and Hart both tackle issues of gendered space and its impact on leisure time. Dawson's attention is the problem of hostels for women war workers in the Second World War, and tensions over the levels of ‘policing’ of their female residents, while Hart considers the way in which ocean‐going liners from 1840 onwards replicated the ‘separate spheres’ on land.…”

A Forgotten Legacy of the Second World War: GI children in post-war Britain and Germany

“…Even before the outbreak of the war the majority of young British women had been in paid employment, but they had generally lived at home. 15 With the beginning of national service and large-scale war work the patterns changed dramatically, with many women living away from home, in hostels 16 or other accommodation outside the reach of parental control. 17 The monotony of the long working days in the factories was broken mainly by cinema, dances or the attention of the locally stationed soldiers.…”