Juarez 1

Destiny Juarez

Professor Rodney Oakes

Humanities 310

18 November 2018

The Impact of War on Women

Throughout the history of mankind and since the beginning of civilizations, war has

always been present. War has been fought for many different reasons and almost every war is

different in its own way. Some wars are fought for control and power while some are fought over

pride and selfishness. However, the one thing that has always been constant is that war has

always had a major impact on the people touched by the war. Stories of humans impacted by war

and tales of war have been passed down as long as literature has existed. Some examples of early

stories of war are the ​Iliad​ and ​The Trojan Women.​ The ​Iliad​, written by Homer, was a story of

the war from the perspective of the male warriors and heroes who fight for honor and pride. On

the other hand, ​The Trojan Women​, written by Euripides, was a story that showed the war from

the perspective of women who experience tragedy as a result of it. Furthermore, stories of war

have also been told through other mediums besides literature, such as paintings. One of those

paintings is called ​Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech Ring​, painted by the British painter Laura

Knight. The painting depicts a young woman working in an industrial plant as part of the British

effort during World War II. All three of these pieces of literature and art can be used to draw

inferences about how wars had impacted the people of the time. Moreover, the painting, ​Ruby

Loftus Screwing a Breech Ring​, can be used to show how war has impacted women and how that

impact on women has changed compared to that described in the ​Iliad ​and ​The Trojan Women​.
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First of all, women have historically been oppressed and have had very few freedoms

compared to men in many societies throughout human civilization. As a result, women have

historically had very little say in how the wars would impact them. For example, as stated by

Bernard Cook in ​Women and War: a Historical Encyclopedia from Antiquity to the Present​,

“more frequently and throughout history, women have been victims of war. They have been

forced to grieve slain husbands and children. They have been brutalized and killed. Women have

been viewed as property to be seized in war and enslaved” (Cook 31). Moreover, women have

often been on the less misfortunate end of wars. As a result of their lack of freedoms, women are

often not thought of during times of war and any negative impact on them is just considered to be

a normal part of wars. This is noticeably apparent in both the ​Iliad​ and ​The Trojan Women​. For

example, in the ​Iliad​ when Achilles’ captive woman is stolen from him, Achilles exclaims, “And

now my prize you threaten in person to strip from me, for whom I labored much, the gift of the

sons of the Achaians. Never, when the Achaians sack some well-founded citadel of the Trojans,

do I have a prize that is equal to your prize” (Homer). In other words, Achilles is referring to this

captive woman that was taken against her will after a battle as his prize. Furthermore, he refers to

her as a gift that he rightfully owns as a result of his dedication and success on the battlefield.

This mistreatment and cruelty towards women were typical for soldiers and warriors during the

Trojan War and it strengthened and continued the male dominance over women. In addition, it is

apparent that the Trojan War was tragic for women when Hecuba, the Queen of Troy, states “Lo,

I have seen the open hand of God; And in it nothing, nothing, save the rod of mine affliction, and

the eternal hate, beyond all lands, chosen and lifted great. For Troy!” (Euripides). Furthermore,

Hecuba, the Queen of Troy, is expressing her pain and sorrow over the fall of Troy just as she is
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about to become captive and enslaved. Moreover, the Queen of Troy is forced into slavery and

considered another prize just as in the ​Iliad​. In short, this shows how war can impact the women

in a society when they are not fortunate enough to avoid becoming captive or enslaved by their

enemy.

In modern times, women have been fortunate enough to able to take on a different role in

wars, besides being victims, in certain scenarios. For example, Maurine Weiner Greenwald

explains in the book ​Women, War, and Work: The Impact of World War I on Women Workers in

the United States​, that during World War I, “in response to the wartime labor shortage,

corporations experimented with training programs for women. At the same time, the federal

government created agencies to establish safe and sanitary working conditions for women, to

oversee the introduction of women into male-dominated work, and to monitor male-female

relations on the floor” (Greenwald 47). In other words, during World War I, women were able to

take on male roles and jobs and were encouraged to do so by the federal government. This was

as a result of the shortage of men available to work because of the war and caused women to fill

many roles that may not have been traditionally female. Moreover, as stated by Lois Ann

Lorentzen in ​The Women and War Reader,​ “during both world wars, there was a huge influx of

women into munitions factories. Recruitment propaganda called on women to do munitions work

previously done by men” (Lorentzen 10). Moreover, women were called to do very demanding

and male-dominated roles. Munitions work involved the manufacturing of a variety of

armaments and equipment that soldiers needed to fight in the war. Although it was a very

demanding job and potentially hazardous, they served a very important role in the outcome of the

war.
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Laura Knight’s painting, ​Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech Ring​, exhibited a woman

working in a munitions factory and showed women that male-dominated jobs can be done by

women. Laura Knight was a British painter who was commisioned by the War Artists’ Advisory

Committee, a British government agency with the aim of documenting the history of Britain

throughout World War II, to help boost female recruitment into manufacturing jobs, such as a

munition factory. The painting itself was made in the Royal Ordnance Factory, a munitions

factory, in Newport, South Wales. Furthermore, the painting shows Ruby Loftus working on a

component, called a breech ring, that is used on a Bofors anti-aircraft gun. As described by the

Imperial War Museum, “Making a Bofors Breech ring was considered the most highly skilled

job in the factory, normally requiring eight or nine years training. Loftus was aged 21 at the time

of the painting and had no previous factory experience. Her ability to operate the machine

presented a considerable publicity coup at the time. However, it has been suggested that she was

placed at the machine precisely for this reason” (“Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech-Ring.” n.d.).

In other words, this task demands a high level of skill and concentration for if the task is done

wrong the entire gun could be destroyed once it is fired. It is stated that this may be why Ruby

Loftus was chosen for the painting because it showed that women are highly capable of doing

exceptionally difficult and challenging tasks. In addition, the painting was then reproduced in

eighth British newspapers and subsequently spread throughout Britain. As a result, the painting

was viewed by almost every woman in Britain and helped support a woman's ability to take on

male roles during times of war. In short, the painting helped shed light on women's abilities to do

more than traditional female roles and gave women confidence that they can do anything that

men can do.

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By examing Laura Knight’s painting we can see how the impact of war on women has

evolved from the times of the Trojan War and as told by the ​Iliad​ and ​The Trojan Women​. First

of all, ​Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech Ring​ ​shows a less vulnerable and more tenacious side of

women during times of war than as dictated historically. On the other hand, the ​Iliad​ portrayed

women as powerless objects that were taken advantage of and enslaved during wars. In addition,

The​ ​Trojan Women​ built further on the idea that women were helpless and taken advantage of

during wars. By showing the Queen of Troy reduced to becoming a prisoner and being enslaved,

it gave the impression that during the Trojan War, all women were negatively impacted by the

war and suffered. Furthermore, Laura Knight’s painting showed how the opportunities and

freedoms for women had changed during the World Wars compared to the time of the Trojan

War. The painting portrays women taking a more assertive approach to wars and also a more

liberal approach by stepping out of traditional gender roles that have existed for centuries. For

example, women began to participate more directly in wars, such as by working in munitions

factories and providing munition to soldiers on the battlefield instead of watching them unfold

and being helpless to the outcome. In addition, women also began to gain more freedoms by

disregarding gender roles that had traditionally shaped society. In other words, women were no

longer being forced to adhere to their role as a wife or mother, which started a movement that

would soon lead to the Women’s Movement after World War II. This portrayal of women during

times of war was divergent from all previous portrayals of women during times of war, in that it

no longer portrayed women as being victims and helpless. Moreover, it shows how far women

have come and that they are just as capable as men. In addition, women can do the tasks and jobs

that traditionally have been reserved for only men and their experiences during times of war can
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take multiple shapes instead of just the single stereotype that all women are victims. In short,

Laura Knight’s ​Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech Ring​ shows how women's experiences during

times of war have changed compared to those expressed in the ​Iliad​, by Homer, and ​The Trojan

Women,​ by Euripides.
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Works Cited

Cook, Bernard A. ​Women and War: a Historical Encyclopedia from Antiquity to the Present​.

ABC-CLIO, 2006.

Euripides, and Gilbert Murray. ​The Trojan Women of Euripides​. Literary Licensing, LLC, 2014.

Greenwald, Maurine Weiner. ​Women, War, and Work: The Impact of World War I on Women

Workers in the United States.​ Cornell University Press, 1990.

Homer, and Robert Fagles. ​Iliad​. Penguin, 1991.

Lorentzen, Lois Ann, and Jennifer E. Turpin. ​The Women and War Reader.​ New York Univ.

Press, 1998.

“Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech-Ring.” ​Imperial War Museums​,

www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/15504.