Feb 2021
‘My greatest pride was being a mother and a housewife’, centenarian Doris reflects on changes for women
International Women's Day - 8 March 2021
Photo captions: Left, Doris with husband Doug at their son's wedding in 1973, right, Doris in WAAF uniform from her time working as Leading Aircraft Woman in World War Two.
Oxford-born Doris Prewitt who has seen many changes for women in her lifetime, prizes motherhood and being a housewife as her greatest pride. Doris, who celebrated her 100th birthday in June 2020, now lives at Spencer Court in Woodstock, run by The Orders of St John Care Trust (OSJCT).
Doris was 19 at the outbreak of World War Two and worked for the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), first as a clerk and then Leading Aircraft Woman. She was responsible for ordering parts for planes, checking stocks, aircraft maintenance and communication duties. In those days, women received just two-thirds pay, compared with their male counterparts in the RAF.
The war brought personal tragedy to Doris whose Polish fiancé was killed in an attack. A few years later she met her husband-to-be Doug, who she married in 1944. He had volunteered into the RAF as a young man and the two met through the RAF at Sutton Coldfield.
Doris said: “‘It’s only when I look back that I realise what I’ve been through. At the time we just got on with it! Life went back to normal after the war and we didn’t exactly know how terrible things had been back then.”
Doris has two sons and didn’t work after the war. She said: “Motherhood was wonderful. I wanted to have a happy family. After everything that happened in my youth, I was very fortunate. My greatest pride was being a mother and a housewife.”
Like World War Two, Doris sees the coronavirus as an enemy that we need to fight collectively and is pleased to see women in that fight. She said: “I’m very impressed with all the women involved in science and helping to come up with the vaccine for the coronavirus.”
She added: “During the war there was a sense that you are fighting for something, you knew who the enemy was. Now it’s a big mystery and that’s daunting.”
Doris is also delighted that the current vice president of America is a black woman. She said: “Women have much more choice when it comes to getting married, having children, going to work nowadays. Happiness comes in all sorts of forms
In conclusion, Doris said: “I’ve had a very happy life. I consider myself very lucky!’