Donne sospese tra pace e guerra. La mobilitazione femminile come pratica di assistenza

Autore: Augusta Molinari
In: Genesis. XV/1, 2016
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Abstract

During the war, middle class women (teachers, employees, housekeepers) played a crucial role in ensuring forms of social assistance – to children, families of combatants, and to soldiers themselves – which were not provided by the State. Besides an overall illustration of their experiences, this essay aims at delving into the complexity of the relationship “ordinary” women entertained with the war and its aftermath. In the performing of their activities of assistance, women found themselves in the position to act as a bridge between the desire for peace manifested by the lower classes, and the staunch support of war expressed by the military and political institutions, along with an appreciable part of the civil society. Those women lived therefore in a “suspended” dimension between two con icting worlds, neither of which they identi ed themselves with. Albeit unwillingly, they turned out to be not only an important asset, but an integral part of the process of mobilization of civil society in the war effort.