Women Workers in WWII, A change in pace

CALLING ALL WOMEN… FOR

NOWBy: Alyssa Stefanic

WHAT’S THIS ALL ABOUT? I would like to explore the call for

women in ship building as men were being shipped overseas to defend America in The Second World War to only be laid off for their return. We will see that this work was different than what women were doing before while still maintaining a normal family life at home. By the end I’d like to show the impact of what this time period had on women, and the war they battled on the home front.

PRE WORLD WAR II The consistent binary was that women

either worked for wages or cared for their families (Marcellus).

Women with young children were asked to stay home to raise their families, there was a prejudice against them when it came to hiring new workers (Yesil).

PRE WORLD WAR II “Women entered better-paying and new

kinds of occupations and increased their participation in the labor force during the Second World War,”(Yesil).

We must focus on the word increase and recognize that women did work prior to World War II.

CALLING ALL WOMEN The Second World War required the

employment of millions of new female workers and reallocation of those who already had been working for major war industries (Yesil).

Mothers were no longer discriminated against when labor shortages reached record highs (Yesil).

BO’S ’N’S WHISTLE Kaiser, the Ship Building

Company in Portland, Oregon was open to Women a few months before the entrance of the war in 1941.

Women were in what they called “Women’s Jobs,” as clerks and nurses.

It wasn’t until men left to fight overseas that Women had stepped up their work (Marcellus).

WAR MANPOWER COMMISSION Recruited women during the war. Thousands of women fled to industrial sites. Not only did they build ships, but they made gun

powder, bombs, and even airplanes. Bo’s ‘n’ Whistle Shipyard had 40,000 women

employed (Marcellus). “Women enjoyed the jobs that were previously

reserved for men,” (Friedman).

WAR AT WORK Although Women were

taking men's jobs, they were still “typed,” where female workers focused on jobs with repetitiveness.

Cartoon’s poked fun at Woman as outsiders in the Male World. Women were described as frail, and they were too worried about breaking a nail (Marcellus.)

A CHANGE OF A PACE Cartoons soon after depicted women as

the “Fair Sex.” These Cartoon’s helped men accept

them. "Housewives who for years have been

drilling holes in their husband's pocket-books ought to make excellent drill operators,“ (Marcellus).

It was mostly white middle class women that went to work, they began to develop relationships and alliances to help the efforts against the war (Daniels).

In 1944, 19 Million women were in the workforce, 5 Million of them being new (Friedman).

AMERICAN BACK UP Women working meant

that they would have the patriotism, and national duty. They wanted to be approved by the men.

The Government had businesses extend their hours, so women could go to work and still shop after. They also encouraged prepared food services (Yesil).

WHERE DID ALL THE CHILDREN GO? Kaiser Shipyards were the first to offer

childcare do to their high percentage of women.

They were promised to have “exciting daily schedules.”

It was a place for kids to learn and play while their mothers went to work (Marcellus).

Unfortunately they say this period of time led to Juvenile Delinquency.

WHEN THE MEN RETURN The government decided that a woman’s

first priority was their traditional role as a homemaker (Marcellus).

Government propaganda had women doing their part during the war effort, which implied their jobs were only temporary and they were to “gracefully withdraw” when the war was over (Yesil).

Fact or Myth?: Women happily went back to their role as a housewife when they came home .

MYTH

Women were hoping their

war time efforts would win

them permanent jobs in the

peacetime after the war

ended (Marcella).

POST WORLD WAR II The married women

was first to lose her job. Single women

continued to work, but went back to “women’s jobs,” (Rosenzweig 586)

Women’s jobs were considered light manufacturing, retail trade, clerical work, and health and education (Rosenzweig 586).

IN CONCLUSIONMany women went back home after the War ended, but many did stay at work. They entered back into women’s jobs, and continued to fight for equality. “The idea that the Second World War was a milestone in female employment ‘places too much weight on the role of a single unpredictable event’ in changing women’s roles and behaviors,” (Yesil). It may not have been a milestone, but it definitely helped with how far we have come today.

Thank you!

THE END

CITATIONSDaniels, Arlene K. "The Rise of Public Woman: Woman's Power and Woman's Place in the United States, 1630-1970." Labor History 34.4 (1993): 545-46.

Friedman, Barbara. ""The Soldier Speaks": Yank Coverage of Women and Wartime Work." American Journalism 22.2 (2005): 63-82. Web.

Marcellus, Jane. "Bo's 'n's Whistle: Representing "Rosie the Riveter" on the Job." American Journalism 22.2 (2005): 83-103

Rosenzweig, Roy, Nelson Lichtenstein, Joshua Brown, and David Jaffee. Who Built America? 3rd ed. Vol. 2. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2008. Print.

Yesil, Bilge. "‘Who Said This Is a Man's War?’: Propaganda, Advertising Discourse and the Representation of War Worker Women during the Second World War." Media History 10.2 (2004): 103-17.