Figure 1.-- Here we see a little Italian girl looking after her baby brother just after World War II (1947). Italy was torn up from the toe of the boot to the Alps after the Allied landing (September 1943) until the NAZI surrender (May 1945). There were countless children who lost or were separated from their parents. In this case it is likely that mother was just having the girl look after her brother. Their father may have been lost in thg War or taken prisoner by the Allies or Germans. The photograph was taken in southern Italy (probably Calabria).
Here we see a little Italian girl looking after her baby brother just after World War II (1947). Italy was torn up from the toe of the boot to the Alps after the Allied landing (September 1943) until the NAZI surrender (May 1945). There were countless children who lost or were separated from their parents. In this case it is likely that mother was just having the girl look after her brother. Their father may have been lost in thg War or taken prisoner by the Allies or Germans. The photograph was taken in southern Italy (probably Calabria). This was the poorer region of Italy. Among peasant and working families who often had large familie, even young girls were tasked with caring for their younger siblings. This was usually a task given to the girls who mostly stayed at home to help mother. We are not sure why the girls were most often tasked witn this. Perhaps it was because the girls usually were kept at home or because girks were more responsible, probably a little of both. An Italian reader adds, "In addition, in Italain socety at the time there was a strict division of roles, especially among the working class, that housework and child care were seen as female jobs, someting that has not entitely disdappeared to this day.".
