WWI Women III

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     Two historians of the First World War both depict women as taking up roles previously reserved for men, but they differ slightly in the significance they describe to these unprecedented but temporary wartime duties. Gail Braybon describes the war as a liberating experience for many women. Although women working in munitions factories were subject to new dangers, such as explosions and trinitrotoluene poisoning, they were mindful of and proud of supporting the war effort, whether or not they considered the broader significance of their actions. Joshua Goldstein too describes a sense of freedom in women but emphasizes that it was short-lived. Although the war bent gender roles, it did not lessen hostility to women in traditionally male jobs, increase the value of female labor, or uproot the notion that home life was a strictly female responsibility. Braybon might reply by noting that, while other changes were slower in coming, some women suffragists supported the war and women's role in it to further their cause, and this position may have contributed to the advent of women's right to vote after the war, even by Goldstein's account. Perhaps more central to Braybon's position is that the liberation that women experienced during the war was one of sentiment and therefore made no less real by the lack of accompanying widespread reform. Furthermore, even though the spirit of liberation must have faded with the end of the war, it might have lived on in a latent form and ultimately contributed to the formation of the women's movement.

With which of the following characterizations of Braybon's interpretation of the significance of women's roles in the First World War would the author of the passage be most likely to agree?

Review: WWI Women III


Explanation

This question asks us to attribute a view to the author, and since the author has not shared much opinion in the passage, the correct answer is likely to be a cautious claim, not a bold one. Answer choice (A), for example, mentions "feminist theory," and as feminist theory hasn't been mentioned in the passage, choice (A) cannot be directly tied to the passage; we have little to no grounds to believe that the author would believe (A). Answer choice (B) is definitely correct in characterizing Braybon's view as about liberation. Does the author likely think that the view "merits clarification"? Maybe in the sense that the author replies to Goldstein by speculating on Braybon's behalf. So we can keep (B) in the running. Choice (C) is inaccurate; Braybon's portrayal is focused on liberation, not voting. So (C) is out. Choice (D) may be accurate, but the claim goes too far, because there is no discussion or even mention of previous views of wartime responsibility. (E), like (D), introduces concepts that haven't been discussed--both modern methods and arguably even women's rights. Looking back at (B), we can be confident that the author expresses that Braybon has legitimate responses to Goldstein's view, but as these responses are speculative, further clarification of her view is warranted.

The correct answer is (B).


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