The neglected but important role that women played in World War II was highlighted in the documentary “Government Girls of World War II” yesterday afternoon at the Wexner Center for the Arts.
“There’s just been reams of books and films done on the men of World War II,” documentarian Leslie Sewell said. “I think the role of women during that time has been pretty much ignored and underplayed.”
The one-hour documentary covered the events of the war as experienced by those on the U.S. home front. It described the roles women played in the government and illustrated other areas of women’s lives when they were separated from their husbands and contributed to the war effort.
The documentary also covered segregation, rationing and other aspects of the war.
“(I) wanted to show the not-so-bright side as well as the nice side,” said Sewell, who is also a former senior producer and writer of “NBC Nightly News.”
The documentary combined war footage with recent interviews of eight women who worked for the government during World War II.
Women who worked for the government did much more than paperwork. They were used to gather military intelligence, special operations and to break codes. The film explains that without the assistance women offered, the military would not have been able to break the submarine codes employed by the U. S. enemies.
After the film, Sewell was asked if there would be any more footage released or recording since this kind of research is needed.
Sewell said she has more than 20 hours of material from which she took the footage for the film. She said she has been working with the Veterans History Project, which attempts to retrieve as much evidence and recognition of veterans as it can.
Former Sen. John Glenn introduced Sewell and shared his thoughts on the film.
“I’m old enough that I remember the government girls of World War II very, very well,” Glenn said. “In fact, I married one.”
He said that he remembered the days of rationing and that perhaps the United States should employ rationing now.
In an interview after the presentation, Sewell said she thought the “government girls” were a neglected part of history. She hopes this film will be used to educate not only private audiences, but also in classrooms as part of the history curriculum.
She said she hoped people would gain an appreciation for aspects of World War II other than the military.
The war changed women’s roles and civil rights, Sewell said. Most Americans don’t know how bad segregation was.
“(The war) really changed society in an unprecedented way,” she said.
