Introduction
Women played various roles during World War II with some acting as combatants and others working on the home front. World War II had lasting implications on women empowerment in the United States that led to their contribution on the transformation of the nation 1 . It was not until the 7 th December 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese that America came into a realization of her lack of preparedness for World War II. This unexpected event led America to increase her manufacturing of war equipment, materials, and machines. Furthermore, it meant that American men drop their industrial work to join the army in retaliation fights. On the home front, it meant that women flee their homes and domestic roles to fill the vacant positions in the manufacturing industries. The government aggressively campaigned for women recruitment and as a show of patriotism and love for their country, women flocked the industries to take on professional jobs. Moreover, women were motivated by the fact that they had then become the breadwinners of their families as their husbands fought abroad. As a result, over 350,000 women volunteered into military service while over 7 million others took over civilian jobs some of which previously were exclusively set aside for men 2 . Millions of women freed their hometowns for wartime opportunities as others remained on the home front building motivation, raising funds, conserving resources, and filling jobs left behind by men.
Wage Opportunities for Women
The start of the Second World War saw the proliferation of economic opportunities for women who were ready and willing to take them up. These women were paid on an hourly basis cumulatively adding up to much more than what most women earned before the advent of the war. Women who worked in the aircraft and munitions industries got paid the highest wages. The president Franklin Roosevelt-founded war manpower commission (WMC) was tasked with the mobilization of all Americans for a combined effort in the war. Through its women’s advisory committee formed in 1942, WMC started new campaigns for women recruitment targeting to marshal womanpower in 100 “Critical War Areas” 3 . Given the fact that working-class and middle-class African American women were already in employment, the main objective of the new campaigns was to reach white middle-class women who previously were only involved with domestic work.
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Women on the Home Front
Before World War II, already there were about a quarter of American women working outside their homes contrary to the rhetoric that it is the war that ushered in women involvement in professional work. It is, however, important to note that women’s paid labor then was limited to traditionally female professions such as sewing and typing and was only meant for unmarried women who had not had children to care for at home. World War II only changed the type and the volume of work they did 4 . Also, the wages they were paid were also increased but still did not match what the men in such positions were previously earning before they left for war. All the same, the working women achieved the financial power to support their families in the absence of their husbands.
Challenges Women faced in Wartime Work
It was a difficult time for women who doubled up as mothers and workers at the same time. Fulltime employment came with hardships such as shift working, exhaustion, limited training, inconvenient shopping time for food and other necessities, falling sick due to long working hours, and long commutes. As a mother and a professional worker, the first lady Eleanor Roosevelt was empathetic for this challenging state of women. As a result, she requested the president F. Roosevelt to approve and sanction the implementation of the Community Facilities Act of 1942, thus leading to the establishment of the first government childcare facilities 5 . Starting with seven centers that served over 105,000 children, Mrs. Roosevelt called on industry leaders for more constructions of such centers to cater for the rising need for childcare 6 . Despite all these efforts, child-caring remained a challenge as the centers could not meet all needs.
Cultural resistance became another hurdle for working mothers during the WWII. In addition to the problem of balancing work and motherhood, women who came from male-dominated backgrounds faced some form of cultural resistance 7 . Men from such backgrounds were afraid that women involvement in wartime work would make their women look masculine. In order to counter this resistance, the government built on propaganda featuring Rosie the Riveter in a bid to reassure men that the femininity of their women would be maintained amid the demands of war. Therefore, female employees received cosmetic-use lessons on ways to ensure they looked their best in order to motivate them to work.
Another major problem that was recorded during wartime work was the safety of female workers in the factories. A scrutiny exercise conducted by the Women’s Bureau at the U.S. Department of Labor found that there was a high rate of industrial accidents that killed many women workers 8 . This was highlighted in a New York Times story written in January 1994 recording shocking details of how industrial deaths within the war period had exceeded the number of fatalities in the war field 9 . A notable case was an accident recorded in Rhode Island where a woman’s hair coiled on an assembly belt leading to complete scalping of her head. In response, the labor department urged women to observe safety in their dressing by wearing protective gear while at work. In addition, factories were advised to adopt a code of safety in their workplaces.
Some of the challenges were unique to minority women who worked in the wartime era. For instance, African American women found it difficult securing job opportunities in the defense industry due to racism. Those who made their way into the industry faced racial discrimination as the white women did not want to work alongside their black counterparts. Women of color faced workplace harassment, received disproportionately lowest wages, were assigned the worst of jobs, and were subjected to racial insults and physical attacks 10 . The war was somehow a blessing in disguise for black women as they flew domestic servitude for better pay in factories and in the military. However, this was for a while as they got fired and forced to return to their domestic servitude as maids and cooks immediately the war came to an end. While African American women got access to new opportunities, Japanese American women hardly accessed new job opportunities courtesy of their internment policy that saw them resettled in remote areas. Moreover, they were housed in poor housing conditions where they lived in groups of up to eight in a single room. This population group endured terrible privation even as they strived to retain the slightest of the status quo in American society.
Women in the War
Thousands of women volunteered into military service during the Second World War. These women were assigned roles and duties such as combatants, nurses, truck driving, repair of airplanes, and clerical work. Some women got into Women’s Air-force Service Pilots where they served as pilots operating from the factories to military camps 11 . Motivated by their love for the country, these women served bravely with some meeting their death in the line of duty and others getting captured as war prisoners. Approximately 1,600 were awarded decorations for their demonstration of courage in the war field 12 . In addition to those women who volunteered in military service, there were those who joined civil service. Some of these civil servants served as engineers and chemists in wartime industries where they helped in the development of war weapons. Among these women workers were those that got recruited into the Manhattan atomic bomb project.
Notwithstanding their dedication to their country’s wellbeing, minority women serving in the war field faced discrimination and segregation. While their white colleagues could rise through ranks in the military service, minority women, like minority men, were not promoted to higher ranks. Moreover, they were not allowed to serve in the navy 13 . Furthermore, racism was so profound that African American military women and other workers such as nurses worked in black-only units with nurses only allowed to offer nursing services to black military officers.
Women after the War
In the aftermath of the war and upon returning home with the victory, word was spread that women’s services in the military were no longer required and that they were expected to return to the normal domestic roles that they held before the war began. Despite some women expressing their interest in continuing with work after the war, the authorities went on to fire women workers in large numbers. Moreover, despite this massive lay-off, women had been empowered that they quickly bounced back into the workforce. This empowerment was so impactful that by 1950, approximately 32% of women were in formal jobs 14 .
Conclusion
The Second Word War came at a time when America was not adequately prepared to join it. The need for men to fight at the war forced women to change their traditional roles by joining industry jobs that were erstwhile considered as men dominated. More than 350, 000 women also joined the military service. Although the war brought abundant opportunities for women, they still faced several challenges. Women who had children found it difficult to balance between work and family. Further, women of color faced discrimination both socially and in terms of wages. After the war, many women were fired, but due to the empowerment they had received, most of them were able to secure other jobs.
Bibliography
Khan Academy. "American Women and World War II." 2019, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/rise-to-world-power/us-wwii/a/american-women-and-world-war-ii.
McEuen, Melissa. A. "Women, Gender, and World War II." Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History , 2016, pp. 1-26, oxfordre.com/americanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175-e-55?print=pdf.
Weatherford, Doris. American women during World War II: An encyclopedia . Routledge, 2009.
1 McEuen, Melissa. A. "Women, Gender, and World War II." Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History , 2016.
2 Khan Academy. "American Women and World War II." 2019, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/rise-to-world-power/us-wwii/a/american-women-and-world-war-ii.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 Weatherford, Doris. American women during World War II: An encyclopedia . Routledge, 2009 .
8 McEuen, Melissa. A. "Women, Gender, and World War II." Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History , 2016.
9 Ibid.
10 Weatherford, Doris. American women during World War II: An encyclopedia . Routledge, 2009.
11 McEuen, Melissa. A. "Women, Gender, and World War II." Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History , 2016.
12 Ibid
13 Weatherford, Doris. American women during World War II: An encyclopedia . Routledge, 2009.
14 Khan Academy. "American Women and World War II." 2019, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/rise-to-world-power/us-wwii/a/american-women-and-world-war-ii.
