Treatment of Women
"It isn't that my mother doesn't like boys, as I explained, but because we are girls and because we are the kind of family who always use top sheets on the beds and always eat our supper in the dining room and things like that--well, she just didn't want us to go out with anybody."
In the 1940s, women treated other white women with equal respect. They often talked about fashion and housekeeping. Although women treated other white females with respect and kindness, white women most often treated African American women poorly. There was still racism going on at this time, and the unfair treatment of blacks was still happening. Many times, when white women saw black women, they completely disregarded them. Usually, the only association these women had with African American women was if they had black maids. This, however, was not entirely true for every white woman. Sometimes, black and white ladies would get along just fine. They would even be friends. This was pretty rare, but was seen sometimes throughout the 1940s.
During this time period, men treated women as though they were fragile and delicate. Yes, a woman should be respected, but she was not helpless. Men believed that women could not handle the jobs men had, when in reality, the women were doing all of the men's jobs during WWII. Men were skeptical about the strength of women taking over men's jobs.