Women and Evacuation in the Second World War

Maggie Andrews is Professor of Cultural History at the University of Worcester, UK.

• Introduction1. Myths, Memories and Memorials of Evacuation2. Femininity, Domesticity and Motherhood 1900-19393. Nationalising Hundreds and Thousands of Women: A Domestic Response to a National Problem4. The Challenges of Enforced Intimacy: Looking after Evacuees5. Mothers Encouraged to Wave Goodbye6. Women's Organisations and Evacuation7. Women Were Paid to Care: Teachers, Social Workers and Psychologists8. Afterword: The Post-war Idealisation of the Family in the Wake EvacuationBibliographyIndex

A path-breaking account of the women involved in various aspects of the evacuation process. The book is a rich mixture of analytical precision and personal testimony, presenting a compelling story of the women involved in each stage of evacuation: from mothers waving goodbye to their children, to the women who helped smooth their way, to the women who struggled with the challenges of bringing up other women’s children, through to the—mainly female— teachers who acted in loco parentis.