Were it not for World War II and all of the involvement of women in the military industrial complex, could it be argued, that women around the western world would have perhaps been relegated to certain allegedly "female" job types and occupations? I hate to think that a war has any _good_ that can come of it, but is this perhaps one thing that was "good"?

I agree with hs4j, war is not good, but the War did get the U.S. out of the Great Depression, and it proved to many that women were capable of doing more than keeping the house clean and the family fed.

did women ever get a chance like this again

Well, because of their work in WWll women started standing up more for equality, but "getting a chance" at working men's jobs whilst they were away at war didn't really happen as much as, maybe Vietnam. It's also argued that (though women should be drafted to receive full equality as men) they will be needed again to be the backbone of the economy if we do decide to go into a major war again and start drafting.

Why did they no let the women keep their jobs?

A white middle-class assumption 80 years ago was that a man should support his family, and that when a married woman took a job, it diminished a man's status. So, men returning from the war assumed that the jobs were theirs, and the culture told married women that they should not have jobs outside of the home. Beyond that, with the war production jobs not needed any more, and soldiers, sailors & marines no longer in uniform, there were not enough jobs to go around. When push came to shove, women got shoved out.

Why did many women and minority Americans contribute to the war effort despite at times facing discrimination?

They did that because, as oppressed as they were, they identified the United States as their nation.

Why were men so mean about not letting women work out of their home?

Nobody, NOBODY, wants to give up an advantage that they believe is based on "nature". Men had the upper hand for centuries. They gave up only a little bit, and very slowly, then wanted it all back when the war ended.

If america was at war , why couldn,t they ration cosmetics and melt the cases of makeup to make war weapons ? I think winning a war means more than keeping women pretty.

You're all missing the point, the point was they had to keep the soldiers morale up it wasn't about rations, if the US Army had no morale. . .There would be no army, well not a well motivated one that is.

Main content

American women and World War II

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During World War II American women took news jobs in the military and defense industry.

Overview

World War II provided unprecedented opportunities for American women to enter into jobs that had never before been open to women, particularly in the defense industry.
Women faced challenges in overcoming cultural stereotypes against working women, as well as finding adequate childcare during working hours. Minority women also endured discrimination and dislocation during the war years.
350,000 women served in the armed forces during World War II.
After the war, many women were fired from factory jobs. Nevertheless, within a few years, about a third of women older than 14 worked outside the home.

Women on the home front

World War II is often falsely identified as the first time that American women worked outside of the home in large numbers. In fact, about a quarter of women worked outside the home in 1940. Before World War II, however, women's paid labor was largely restricted to "traditionally female" professions, such as typing or sewing, and most women were expected to leave the labor force as soon as they had children, if not as soon as they married.

^{1}

World War II changed both the type of work women did and the volume at which they did it. Five million women entered the workforce between 1940-1945. The gap in the labor force created by departing soldiers meant opportunities for women. In particular, World War II led many women to take jobs in defense plants and factories around the country. These jobs provided unprecedented opportunities to move into occupations previously thought of as exclusive to men, especially the aircraft industry, where a majority of workers were women by 1943.

But most women in the labor force during World War II did not work in the defense industry. The majority took over other factory or office jobs that had been held by men. Although women often earned more money than ever before, it was still far less than men received for doing the same jobs. Nevertheless, many achieved a degree of financial self-reliance that was enticing.

The challenges of wartime work

Working women, especially mothers, faced great challenges during World War II. To try to address the dual role of women as workers and mothers, Eleanor Roosevelt urged her husband Franklin Delano Roosevelt to approve the first US government childcare facilities under the Community Facilities Act of 1942. Eventually, seven centers, servicing 105,000 children, were built. The First Lady also urged industry leaders to build model childcare facilities for their workers. Still, these efforts did not meet the full need for childcare for working mothers.

There was also some cultural resistance to women going to work in such male-dominated environments. In order to recruit women for factory jobs, the government created a propaganda campaign centered on a figure known as Rosie the Riveter. Rosie was tough yet feminine. To reassure men that the demands of war would not make women too masculine, some factories gave female employees lessons in how to apply makeup, and cosmetics were never rationed during the war. Keeping American women looking their best was believed to be important for morale.

Minority women faced particular difficulties during the World War II era. African American women struggled to find jobs in the defense industry, and found that white women were often unwilling to work beside them when they did. Although factory work allowed black women to escape labor as domestic servants for a time and earn better wages, most were fired after the war and forced to resume work as maids and cooks.

^{2}

Japanese American women in western states had little access to new job opportunities, given that the policy of Japanese internment had resettled them in remote locations. Cramped into converted barns, living with as many as eight people in a single room, Japanese American women struggled to retain a semblance of normalcy in the face of terrible privation.

^{3}

Women in the war

Approximately 350,000 American women joined the military during World War II. They worked as nurses, drove trucks, repaired airplanes, and performed clerical work. Some were killed in combat or captured as prisoners of war. Over sixteen hundred female nurses received various decorations for courage under fire.

Those who joined the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) flew planes from the factories to military bases.

Many women also flocked to work in a variety of civil service jobs. Others worked as chemists and engineers, developing weapons for the war. This included thousands of women who were recruited to work on the Manhattan Project, developing the atomic bomb.

Minority women, like minority men, served in the war effort as well, though the Navy did not allow black women into its ranks until 1944. As the American military was still segregated for the majority of World War II, African American women served in black-only units. Black nurses were only permitted to attend to black soldiers.

^{4}

Women after the war

Social commentators worried that when men returned from military service there would be no jobs available for them, and admonished women to return to their "rightful place" in the home as soon as victory was at hand. Although as many as 75% of women reported that they wanted to continue working after World War II, women were laid off in large numbers at the end of the war.

But women's participation in the work force bounced back relatively quickly. Despite the stereotype of the "1950s housewife," by 1950 about 32% of women were working outside the home, and of those, about half were married. World War II had solidified the notion that women were in the workforce to stay.

^{5}

What do you think?

What effect did World War II have on women's work?

Do you think Rosie the Riveter is a symbol of women's strength? Or was she a symbol that women had to retain beauty standards during the war?

Which of the jobs available to women during wartime would you have wanted, and why?

Portions of this article were adapted from "The Home Front," OpenStax College, US History. OpenStax CNX. 2016.

This article is licensed under a CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

Notes

On women's participation in the workforce in 1940, see Ellen Carol DuBois and Lynn Dumenil, Through Women's Eyes: An American History with Documents, 4th ed. (New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2016), 487.
See Dubois and Dumenil, Through Women's Eyes, 497-498.
See Dubois and Dumenil, Through Women's Eyes, 499-501.
See Dubois and Dumenil, Through Women's Eyes, 495.
See Dubois and Dumenil, Through Women's Eyes, 503.

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Jeff Kelman
Posted 8 years ago. Direct link to Jeff Kelman's post “Were it not for World War...”
Were it not for World War II and all of the involvement of women in the military industrial complex, could it be argued, that women around the western world would have perhaps been relegated to certain allegedly "female" job types and occupations? I hate to think that a war has any good that can come of it, but is this perhaps one thing that was "good"?
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- Samantha Moone #Writer's Alliance
  Posted 7 years ago. Direct link to Samantha Moone #Writer's Alliance's post “I agree with hs4j, war is...”
  I agree with hs4j, war is not good, but the War did get the U.S. out of the Great Depression, and it proved to many that women were capable of doing more than keeping the house clean and the family fed.
  Comment on Samantha Moone #Writer's Alliance's post “I agree with hs4j, war is...”
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raygunner
Posted 6 years ago. Direct link to raygunner's post “did women ever get a chan...”
did women ever get a chance like this again
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- sarah mazur
  Posted 6 years ago. Direct link to sarah mazur's post “Well, because of their wo...”
  Well, because of their work in WWll women started standing up more for equality, but "getting a chance" at working men's jobs whilst they were away at war didn't really happen as much as, maybe Vietnam. It's also argued that (though women should be drafted to receive full equality as men) they will be needed again to be the backbone of the economy if we do decide to go into a major war again and start drafting.
  Comment on sarah mazur's post “Well, because of their wo...”
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._.
Posted a year ago. Direct link to ._.'s post “Why did they no let the w...”
Why did they no let the women keep their jobs?
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- David Alexander
  Posted a year ago. Direct link to David Alexander's post “A white middle-class assu...”
  A white middle-class assumption 80 years ago was that a man should support his family, and that when a married woman took a job, it diminished a man's status. So, men returning from the war assumed that the jobs were theirs, and the culture told married women that they should not have jobs outside of the home. Beyond that, with the war production jobs not needed any more, and soldiers, sailors & marines no longer in uniform, there were not enough jobs to go around. When push came to shove, women got shoved out.
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edie
Posted 8 years ago. Direct link to edie's post “If america was at war , w...”
If america was at war , why couldn,t they ration cosmetics and melt the cases of makeup to make war weapons ? I think winning a war means more than keeping women pretty.
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- Preston Tucker
  Posted 6 years ago. Direct link to Preston Tucker's post “You're all missing the po...”
  You're all missing the point, the point was they had to keep the soldiers morale up it wasn't about rations, if the US Army had no morale. . .There would be no army, well not a well motivated one that is.
  Button navigates to signup page
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Why did many women and minority Americans contribute to the war effort despite at times facing discrimination?
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- David Alexander
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  They did that because, as oppressed as they were, they identified the United States as their nation.
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chhuon.menglin
Posted a year ago. Direct link to chhuon.menglin's post “WW2 had a positive and pr...”
WW2 had a positive and prosperous impact on women's job availability. As can be known, a large number of men went to war and left many jobs for women to do. Moreover, the war seemed to expose women's abilities and talents in which they had not been given opportunities to do so. In corresponding to the article, Rosie and Riveter brought the strength of women to inform the world that they were also rigorous and able to work as men. Plus, women had a propensity to be masculine, all of working women were demanded to apply makeup and cosmetics in order to retain their beauty standards. Rosie was a symbol of that one. During wartime, it is such a hard time when people only want to survive. If there were numerous jobs available for women, clerical work would be more appropriate for women. Evidently, men came to the war to combat enemies, and a lot of jobs were clerical ones.
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MadLlama
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Why were men so mean about not letting women work out of their home?
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- David Alexander
  Posted a year ago. Direct link to David Alexander's post “Nobody, NOBODY, wants to ...”
  Nobody, NOBODY, wants to give up an advantage that they believe is based on "nature". Men had the upper hand for centuries. They gave up only a little bit, and very slowly, then wanted it all back when the war ended.
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- David Alexander
  Posted a year ago. Direct link to David Alexander's post “Portions of this article ...”
  Portions of this article were adapted from "The Home Front," OpenStax College, US History. OpenStax CNX. 2016.
  This article is licensed under a CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
  
  You can learn about the OpenStax US History book at openstax.org/details/books/us-history
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US history

Course: US history > Unit 7