Rank #353 in NON FICTION
As a salute to all the many women who fought in World War II, at home, in secret, in the service, we give you this collection of stories of real-life women. Like Agent Peggy Carter, too often their sacrifice and service was...
Women Like Marvel's Agent Carter Were a Very Real Part of History
By Lesley Coffin, The Mary Sue
Over Christmas, I picked up and dropped off my grandmother at her assisted living home. She is well into her 90s now, little and slow. But as a family, we take some pride in the fact that she has one of the better decorated rooms in this home. It includes things from her house she holds dear; blankets, pictures of her kids and my late grandfather, cookies and candies, and a very wonky statue which was recently decapitated by a nurse. Her head has been duct taped back together, and there she stands; a statue of a World War II WAC. After all, my grandmother held tightly to those memories of her time serving in the Women's Army Corp.
I love the Captain America movies for multiple reasons. They look great, are well written, have emotional depth, and make a real effort at showing gender equality. But the character of Peggy Carter (portrayed by Hayley Atwell, soon to star in ABC's Agent Carter) will always hold a special place in my heart, especially after seeing Winter Soldier's version of the character - old, sick, and riddled with Alzheimer memory loss. It hit very close to home. My grandmother is the same age, suffers some of the rapid memory loss, and in the 1940s marched with pride in a uniform very similar to the one Peggy war on screen.
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Lesley's grandmother: image provided by Cecelia Morg Purcell
Now, Peggy Carter's character is a little different than the WAAC/WAC we know, but not that different. For one, nearly every country in the war, Axis and Allies, opened service to women during this war effort, including British women like Carter. And whether part of the official military or hired to work for military projects, there were many woman working on secret war projects, like the secretaries working with code breakers and science departments. The character of Peggy in Marvel Comics was originally a freedom fighter for the French Resistance, but in the films she's a member of the Women's Royal Service working with the Americans on a secret weapons project. Considering First Avenger was firmly rooted in the serial superhero movies from the 1940s, a character like that makes perfect sense - except women never got silly serials about them. And there are truths to her character which would have a long lasting impact on the women's movement. For women like my grandmother and her friends, the WAC wasn't just an opportunity to serve their country and help the war effort, it was a chance to embrace a little independence few women were allowed.
Personally, my grandmother was essentially following in her mother's footsteps. My great-grandmother was a Harvey Girl, working as a waitress for the train company restaurants and hotels. If you've ever seen the classic Judy Garland movie, they got a lot right (and a lot wrong), but they did capture something very important about that time for women. If you didn't want to live at home with your parents, or marry as soon as you reached adulthood, Harvey Girls were an opportunity to gain "some" independence for a few years. Yes, they were restricted by dress code and curfews, but they were given far more independence than most women of that day. Unsurprisingly, my great-great grandmother married the restaurant's pastry chef, had kids, and left the work force to be "a housewife." One of those kids was my grandmother.
