How World War II Changed the Lives of Women

The Second World War permanently changed the lives of women. Most notably, the war opened new career possibilities and changed women’s fashion. Here are some examples of these changes.

Jobs

World War II, (1939-1945) resulted in a shortage of people in the workforce because thousands of men had gone to fight in the wars. Prior to the war, women who held jobs usually worked in clerical and service sectors. During the war, they started to work in heavy industry and wartime production plants, in jobs that traditionally belonged to men. They worked as engineers, truck drivers, and construction workers, to name a few examples.

Rosie the Riveter became an icon of World War II. She was a symbol of the working woman, especially in defense industries.

Fashion

Women’s fashion also changed because of the war. Skirts became slimmer and shorter (around knee length) to save fabric and meet regulations. Stockings disappeared and women went barelegged because nylon for civilian use was restricted.

The Women’s Land Army were women in the rural workforce in Britain. Women from towns and cities were employed to do dairy work, join rat-catching squads on farms, complete horticultural tasks, operate heavy machinery to turn over land for food production, and source and prepare wood from forests. They wore a special uniform to do their work.

Does punctuation matter? Some comma humor.

Does punctuation matter? The answer is in this story about a panda that walked into a cafe, ordered a sandwich, ate it, and fired a gun into the air. But why did the panda do such a thing?

The answer lies in a badly punctuated manual with a definition of “panda”:

“Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.” – Lynne Truss, Eats, Shoots and Leaves

Panda lying on table, slupping noodles.

How important is it to learn punctuation rules?

Let’s start with the disasters that could occur when the series comma is not used when it’s needed. The series comma (also called the Oxford comma, the Harvard comma, and the serial comma) is the comma that is used before you list the final item in a series of three or more items. For example, the serial comma is placed after “bunnies” in the following sentence:

They like cats, bunnies, and bears.

The series comma

American English tends to use the series comma more than British English, but it really depends on which style guide a writer or editor is using.

In some cases, the use of the series comma is necessary to clarify the meaning of a sentence, such as the sentence below, which doesn’t use the series comma.

I like cooking my family and my pets. (Scary)

A series comma changes the meaning.

I like cooking, my family, and my pets. (Normal)

Similarly, this sentence, without a series comma, describes a dog with two job titles:

We went on a trip with my dog, the company CEO and my manager. 

And this sentence describes a group of people and one dog.

We went on a trip with my dog, the company CEO, and my manager. 

Dog staring at woman, both are sitting at their computers at their desks.

The period 

A period shows the end of a complete thought and appears at the end of a sentence. Sometimes people follow their train of thought and place a period when they want to pause or conclude an idea. To check that you haven’t placed a period in the wrong spot, read your sentence out loud and check if the sentence makes sense.

Notice the difference between the following two sentences:

Help me get a job.
Help me. Get a job.

And notice the difference between these two sentences:

No more studying!
No. More studying!

Students walking together. "No more studying!"

Be your own editor

Be your own editor and check your work. Don’t leave it up to autocorrect or free, readily available editing apps to make your final edits!

Person shouts, "What do we want?" People reply, "The end of autocorrect!" Person shouts, "When do we want it?" People reply, "Cow!"

Photo Credits: GraphicMama-team (panda) Syaibatulhamdi (people walking), Karolina Grabowska (dog), Unknown source (autocorrect)

Product Bias: What You Buy May Not Be For You

Here’s something to think about the next time you make a purchase.

For me, it started as an innocent observation. I was looking into buying a planner when I noticed that the full, page-sized planners were commonly in pink shades or floral patterns. What statement are the makers of these planners trying to make?

I started to do some digging and found examples of product bias. Product bias results from items made for a specific group of people, with little to no research done to ensure that the product is meant for a larger group of users. For example, products made for right-handed people, or equipment designed for men, but used by any person. 

The following are just some examples of product bias.

Right-Handed Products for Left-Handed People

Products designed for right-handed people can cause inconveniences for left-handed people. For example:

  • Almost all doors are designed to open using the right hand and hand rails are usually on the right side.
  • The measurements on a measuring cup will need to be read upside down or backward if you are left-handed. 
  • The buttons on watches are on an inconvenient side of the watch.
  • People at your dinner table are likely right-handed so all the tableware is set up for right-handed diners. Left-handed diners need to remember which side their cutlery and glasses are on.
  • Jobs are likely to supply you with a right-handed mouse. 

Biased Design

Everyday things are designed in a biased manner, from seatbelts to voice assistants.

  • Period tracking apps are pink. Just search “period tracking apps” and you will see pink logos and pink designs.
  • Seatbelts (until recently) were tested using crash test dummies with body shapes similar to the average male body, so female drivers are more likely to be killed or injured in car crashes.
  • Voice assistants such as Google Home, Amazon’s Alexa, Microsoft’s Cortana & Apple’s Siri have female names and voices. These products are described as “helpful,” “supportive,” and “humble” by the company.

“Shrink It and Pink It”

The saying “shrink it and pink it” refers to products that were originally designed for men and later made in a smaller size for women. In other words, those products were not originally designed for women (or for use by all adults).

  • Running shoes were designed to fit the typical shape of a man’s foot and later made in a smaller size to fit a woman’s foot.
  • Personal protective equipment (PPE) that fits women properly is hard to find. In healthcare, women deal with gowns that are too long. They wear masks that are too big to fit their face properly. 
  • “Women represent over half of the global population and in the US, they influence nearly 90% of all purchasing decisions. Yet only 19% of practicing industrial designers, also known as product designers, are women.”

Racial Face Misidentification 

Products designed for light-skinned faces encountered unexpected issues when the products were used with a wider range of human subjects. Some specific stories:

  • Mr. Alciné, a software engineer, used an A.I. in a Google online photo service six years ago to organize his photos into topics such as “birthday.” He noticed a folder labeled “gorillas.” Curious, he opened the folder and “found more than 80 photos he had taken nearly a year earlier of a friend during a concert in nearby Prospect Park. That friend was Black.” The photos had been mistagged. 
  • An Amazon facial recognition technology service had difficulty identifying the sex of female and darker-skinned faces. “According to the study, the service mistook women for men 19 percent of the time and misidentified darker-skinned women for men 31 percent of the time. For lighter-skinned males, the error rate was zero.”

Key Takeaways

Biases exist in the design of products designed specifically for one group of people, but sold to a wider group. For example, products designed for men and then marketed for use by all people. 

What is your experience with products? Have you bought a product that you felt was biased?

Halloween Humor and Celebrations

All aboard! To go where? It depends. So many people think of Halloween as the perfect time of year to scare others and to be scared. However, Halloween is more than that. It is a time for everyone. Here’s why.

You can visit so many Halloween-themed displays, such as the train above which has temporarily been commandeered by skeletal pirates. Or check out how well people have decorated their houses.

If the freaky and spooky aren’t for you, and you’re the cheerful type, you can enjoy  some Halloween workplace humor:

How do ghosts send letters? Through the ghost office.

Why don’t mummies take time off? They’re afraid to unwind.

Why do vampires not want to become investment bankers? They hate stakeholders.

What is the mummy’s holiday job? Gift wrapper.

Why did the ghost leave his job? He hated the graveyard shift.

What did the mummy film director say? That’s a wrap.

What do skeletons order at a restaurant? Spare ribs.

Credit for the humor: source unknown.

Children and adults can dress up in costumes and have a little fun trick-or-treating or going to a Halloween party. You can enter a pumpkin in a pumpkin carving contest.

And for those who like history and aren’t into all the costumes and dress up, the origins of Halloween may have more appeal. It is a night when the veil between the living and the dead is thinnest. For those who have lost friends or family members, Halloween is a time to reflect and reconnect with loved ones from our past.

Photo credits: Alex Fotos, Jill Wellington (Pixabay)

Scary and Creepy Jobs: Want to Try?

It’s that time of year when it’s normal to switch identities by wearing masks and dressing up in costumes. Some people become superheroes, movie and book characters, robots, monsters, or people from various professions.

So, in keeping with this frightful time of year, let’s take a closer look at some scary and creepy jobs. Would you want to try any of these jobs for a day? Have you ever dressed up as one of these professions for Halloween?

Bomb technician

The job is highly stressful and you need to be level headed or you could have a really bad day and not make it home. The job includes deactivating explosives, explosive devices, and explosive chemicals.

High-rise window washer

This job isn’t for those who are afraid of heights. You’re responsible for cleaning the windows of tall skyscrapers that are several storeys high. When you look down, it can be a long way down.

Miner

Miners work in dark and damp settings in confined spaces if they work underground and face exposure to weather conditions if they work above ground. They work long days, doing repetitive and backbreaking labor. The work is definitely not for those who are afraid of possible cave-ins, explosions, or toxic air.

Clinical trial subject

Participants who are part of a clinical trial have the opportunity to experience an experimental drug, surgical procedure, or medical device. Because a drug is part of a clinical trial, there is less information about the safety and risk of the drug. The treatment may not be effective. Or the test subjects could have mild to severe side effects.

Crab fisherman

Crab fishermen face freezing, icy, weather conditions, strong waves that can cause heavy crab pots to slide or fall on the deck and cause injuries to the crew, or drowning or hypothermia from falling overboard or the boat capsizing. The US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health found that mortality rates are “26 times higher (80%) than those of the average worker.”

Psychiatric ward attendant/psychiatric aide

Psychiatric ward attendants assist those in psychiatric wards with daily needs, such as serving meals, grooming, and administering medication. Risks of the job include effects on mental health from exposure to aggressive behavior or violence from patients on a regular basis, and possibly physical harm from the patients.

Crime scene cleaner

Crime scene cleaners clean up and sanitize the area where a crime, suicide, or accident has occurred. They may encounter blood, body fluids, broken glass, or needles. If you don’t wear the correct personal protective equipment, you risk contracting a disease.

Forensic entomologist

An entomologist is considered one of the creepiest jobs. On the downside, entomologists identify maggots collected from corpses. They must be comfortable getting dirty. They go to crime scenes to collect bug specimens to determine the cause of death or go out at night to study the behavior of moths.

Mortician

Morticians plan and manage tasks related to upcoming funerals. For this job, you will be handling corpses and risking infection or disease if you disregard safety training. You are around death on a regular basis, hearing stories about death and loss. This environment can be emotionally draining.

Security guards

Depending on the type of work, the job can be low risk to high risk. It can be physically demanding if giving chase or dealing with rowdy crowds. In extreme cases, there can be injury or death. As an extra note, in horror movies, they are one of the first to meet the bad guy, and depending on the type of movie, the antagonist can be a crazy person, zombie, or supernatural entity.

Which of these jobs would you want to try? Are there any scary or creepy jobs that you would like to add to this list?