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Women in the firing line : the Home Guard and the defence of gender boundaries in Britain in the Second World War.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

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Women in the firing line : the Home Guard and the defence of gender boundaries in Britain in the Second World War. / Summerfield, A. Penny; Peniston-Bird, Corinna M.
In: Women's History Review, Vol. 9, No. 2, 06.2000, p. 231-255.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

Summerfield, AP & Peniston-Bird, CM 2000, 'Women in the firing line : the Home Guard and the defence of gender boundaries in Britain in the Second World War.', Women's History Review, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 231-255. https://doi.org/10.1080/09612020000200250

APA

Summerfield, A. P., & Peniston-Bird, C. M. (2000). Women in the firing line : the Home Guard and the defence of gender boundaries in Britain in the Second World War. Women's History Review, 9(2), 231-255. https://doi.org/10.1080/09612020000200250

Vancouver

Summerfield AP, Peniston-Bird CM. Women in the firing line : the Home Guard and the defence of gender boundaries in Britain in the Second World War. Women's History Review. 2000 Jun;9(2):231-255. doi: 10.1080/09612020000200250

Author

Summerfield, A. Penny ; Peniston-Bird, Corinna M. / Women in the firing line : the Home Guard and the defence of gender boundaries in Britain in the Second World War. In: Women's History Review. 2000 ; Vol. 9, No. 2. pp. 231-255.

Bibtex

@article{af5bfecd2f154ff8af439cc02ee4d77c,
title = "Women in the firing line : the Home Guard and the defence of gender boundaries in Britain in the Second World War.",
abstract = "The Home Guard is well known as a local volunteer force formed to protect Britain against invasion in 1940. Less familiar is the history of the gendering of the organisation. Although the boundary between male combatants and female non-combatants was put under pressure in the Second World War, women's presence in the Home Guard was resisted from within government and the military hierarchy. Participation in home defence would have required women to be armed, a step which the authorities were not prepared to take, in spite of the insistence upon it of women campaigners in and out of Parliament. This article explores the tensions within political discourse that arose as a result, and the eventual official compromise, as well as analysing representations of the gendering of home defence in popular entertainment during the War and since, and the implications of such constructions for the personal reminiscences of women Home Guards.",
author = "Summerfield, {A. Penny} and Peniston-Bird, {Corinna M.}",
year = "2000",
month = jun,
doi = "10.1080/09612020000200250",
language = "English",
volume = "9",
pages = "231--255",
journal = "Women's History Review",
issn = "0961-2025",
publisher = "Taylor and Francis Ltd.",
number = "2",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Women in the firing line : the Home Guard and the defence of gender boundaries in Britain in the Second World War.

AU - Summerfield, A. Penny

AU - Peniston-Bird, Corinna M.

PY - 2000/6

Y1 - 2000/6

N2 - The Home Guard is well known as a local volunteer force formed to protect Britain against invasion in 1940. Less familiar is the history of the gendering of the organisation. Although the boundary between male combatants and female non-combatants was put under pressure in the Second World War, women's presence in the Home Guard was resisted from within government and the military hierarchy. Participation in home defence would have required women to be armed, a step which the authorities were not prepared to take, in spite of the insistence upon it of women campaigners in and out of Parliament. This article explores the tensions within political discourse that arose as a result, and the eventual official compromise, as well as analysing representations of the gendering of home defence in popular entertainment during the War and since, and the implications of such constructions for the personal reminiscences of women Home Guards.

AB - The Home Guard is well known as a local volunteer force formed to protect Britain against invasion in 1940. Less familiar is the history of the gendering of the organisation. Although the boundary between male combatants and female non-combatants was put under pressure in the Second World War, women's presence in the Home Guard was resisted from within government and the military hierarchy. Participation in home defence would have required women to be armed, a step which the authorities were not prepared to take, in spite of the insistence upon it of women campaigners in and out of Parliament. This article explores the tensions within political discourse that arose as a result, and the eventual official compromise, as well as analysing representations of the gendering of home defence in popular entertainment during the War and since, and the implications of such constructions for the personal reminiscences of women Home Guards.

U2 - 10.1080/09612020000200250

DO - 10.1080/09612020000200250

M3 - Journal article

VL - 9

SP - 231

EP - 255

JO - Women's History Review

JF - Women's History Review

SN - 0961-2025

IS - 2

ER -