Notable Women from the Front
Contemporary History

World War II brought about many opportunities for American women desperate to break the gender barrier of the male dominated workforce. Men were needed to fight the war, therefore doors flung open for women to become journalists, factory workers, and military employees. Three notable women were May Craig (1899-1975), Therese Bonney (1894-1978), and Janet Flanner (1892-1978). These three were of an elite group of 127 American women who were chosen and credentialed by the military to report the war either from the front lines or from the home front. They had the unique opportunity to capitalize on the war and make societal changes that benefitted women both then and now. They touched the masses at home and abroad with their detailed pictorial reporting of the events of WWII. May Craig was a southern woman employed as a Washington columnist - correspondent by a Maine-based newspaper. She made the brave decision to go to the front lines and the Library of Congress noted in Women Come to the Front, “to report eye witness accounts of the atrocities of the V-bombs, Normandy campaign, and the liberation of Paris.” She fought for women’s rights as a war correspondent, frequently having to successfully go up against the military’s rules forbidding women on planes and ships. She did not let the war complete her reputation as a trend changer; as the Library of Congress noted, “she continued to fight for women’s rights as a photographic reporter by leading the Eleanor Roosevelt Press Conference Organization and the Women’s National Press Club.” Therese Bonney settled in Paris and was also employed as a war correspondent, but mostly on the ground while focusing on the sufferings of the casualties of WWII; the homeless adults and children. She wanted the people at home to wake up and notice what was going on and drove her message home to them with her pictures and stories According to the Library of Congress, “she not only published her works in magazines and newspapers, she published many books; one ultimately winning an academy award as a movie, The Search (1948).” Janet Flanner was employed by the New Yorker magazine for almost half a century and was a trail blazer for women journalists. She focused on reporting the atrocities of the war via letters written while residing in Paris. The Library of Congress notes “her popular, biweekly columnist letters were focused on politics, art, theater, and French culture.” Like Bonney and Craig, she was also concerned with the atrocities of the war in Europe. Although these women were very much alike in their career choice, they were also different in their methods. Craig was immersed in the war and reported from the trenches, aboard ships, and from planes. Bonney focused mainly on the sufferings of the civilians, while Flanner reported on the politics and her personal account of the war. Women from around the globe cannot imagine the discriminatory roadblocks these three women and the other 124 had to overcome to be able to do what they loved and believed in. The bravery and tenacity of these women are the reasons women journalists are traveling the globe to report from wherever they choose.

References
U.S. Library of Congress. (July 27,2010). Women Come to the Front: Journalists, Photographers, and Broadcasters During World War II. Retrieved from http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/wcf/