American women in World War II became involved in many tasks they rarely had before; as the war involved global conflict on an unprecedented scale, the absolute urgency of mobilizing the entire population made the expansion of the role of women inevitable. Their services were recruited through a variety of methods, including posters and other print advertising, as well as popular songs. Among the most iconic images were those depicting "Rosie the Riveter", a woman factory laborer performing what was previously considered men's work."Rosie and Home Front Stories ". Richmond, California: Rosie the Riveter Trust, retrieved online July 18, 2018.
With this added skill base channeled to paid employment opportunities, the presence of women in the American workforce continued to expand from what had occurred during World War I. Many sought and secured jobs in the war industry, building ships, aircraft, vehicles, and munitions or other weaponry. Others drove trucks, worked as mechanics and radio operators, as well as providing vital logistical support for the soldiers. Still, others worked on farms. Women also enlisted in significantly greater numbers in the military, some of whom served as nurses near the front lines.
During World War II, approximately 350,000 U.S. women served with the armed forces. As many as 543 died in war-related incidents, including 16 nurses who were killed from enemy fire - even though U.S. political and military leaders had decided not to use women in combat because they feared public opinion. By 1948, however, women were finally recognized as a permanent part of the U.S. armed forces with the passage of the Women's Armed Services Integration Act of 1948.
Civilians aiding the military The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) were civilians who flew stateside missions, chiefly ferrying planes from one location to another when male pilots were needed for combat roles. In September 1942, General Henry H. Arnold agreed to form two units of women who would help fly aircraft in the United States. They were The Women's Auxiliary Ferry Squadron (WAFS), led by Nancy Harkness Love, and The Women's Flying Training Detachment (WFTD), led by Jacqueline Cochran. These two groups merged in 1943 to create WASP. More than 1,074 of these skilled pilots became the first women to fly American military aircraft, taking off from airfields at 126 bases across the United States to logistically relocate fifty percent of the combat aircraft during the war. The WASP was disbanded in 1944 when returning combat pilots took over ferrying tasks; 38 WASPs died in accidents.Molly Merryman, Clipped Wings: The Rise and Fall of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WAPs) of World War II. New York, New York: NYU Press, 2001."Women in World War II," in "U.S. History in Context." Detroit, Michigan: Gale, 2014. The WAP was granted veteran status in 1977, and given the Congressional Gold Medal in 2009."111th Congress Public Law 40: Women Airforce Service Pilots Congressional Gold Medal." Washington, D.C.: U.S. Congress, 2009.. The Women's Air Raid Defense was a similar group that operated in Hawaii.
Women also served as spies for the Office of Strategic Services, a United States intelligence agency. Of the 4,500 women employed by the OSS as clerks, operations agents, codebreakers, and undercover agents (out of the 13,000 people employed in total by the OSS), 1,500 worked overseas. One, Portland, Oregon's Claire Phillips, an untrained spy, operated a clandestine ring under the cover of Club Tsubaki, a cabaret popular with Japanese officers stationed in Manila. Earning the nickname "high-pockets" because she smuggled information in her brassiere, she also funneled food, medicine, and other supplies to prisoners in the Philippines. Another, Elizabeth Thorpe Pack, used seduction to extract information, and was best known for helping to acquire the first Enigma machine from Polish intelligence and for securing Italian and Vichy French codebooks. Virginia Hall, who was labeled by the Gestapo as "the most dangerous of all alien spies", disguised herself as a milkmaid in France in order to spy on German forces.McIntosh, Elizabeth Peet.Sisterhood of Spies: The Women of the OSS. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute Press, 2009, ).Platt, Amy E. "'Go into the yard as a worker, not as a woman': Oregon women during World War II, a digital exhibit on the Oregon history project". Oregon Historical Quarterly, Summer 2015, p. 234. Gale Group: "U.S. History in Context".
In 2017, Sadie O. Horton, who spent World War II working aboard a U.S. Merchant Marine barge, posthumously received official veteran's status for her wartime service, becoming the first recorded female Merchant Marine veteran of World War II.
Home front
U.S. women also performed many kinds of non-military service in organizations such as the American Red Cross and the United Service Organizations (USO). Nineteen million American women filled out the home front labor force, not only as "Rosie the Riveters" in war factory jobs, but in transportation, agricultural, and office work of every variety. Women joined the federal government in massive numbers during World War II. Nearly a million "government girls" were recruited for war work. In addition, women volunteers aided the war effort by planting victory gardens, canning produce, selling war bonds, donating blood, salvaging needed commodities, and sending care packages.
By the end of World War I, twenty-four percent of workers in aviation plants, mainly located along the coasts of the United States were women, and yet this percentage was easily surpassed by the beginning of World War II.Adams, Frank S. "Women in Democracy’s Arsenal", New York Times, October 19, 1941. Mary Anderson, director of the Women's Bureau, reported in January 1943 that about 2,800,000 women "are now engaged in war work and that their numbers are expected to double by the end of this year.""About 3,000,000 Women Now in War Work" Science News Letter, January 16, 1943.
The skills women had acquired through their daily chores proved to be very useful in helping them acquire new skill sets towards the war effort. Since men that usually did certain jobs were out at war, women tried to replace them. For example, the pop culture phenomenon of "Rosie the Riveter" made riveting one of the most widely known jobs. Experts speculate women were so successful at riveting because it so closely resembled sewing (assembling and seaming together a garment).Doris Weatherford, American Women during World War II(2010). p12 However, riveting was only one of many jobs that women were learning and mastering as the aviation industry was developing. As Glenn Martin, a co-founder of Martin Marietta, told a reporter: "We have women helping design our planes in the Engineering Departments, building them on the production line, [and] operating almost every conceivable type of machinery, from rivet guns to giant stamp presses".Bradley, La Verne. "Women at Work" National Geographic, August 1944.
Some women indeed chose more traditional female jobs such as sewing aircraft upholstery or painting radium on tiny measurements so that pilots could see the instrument panel in the dark. And yet many others, maybe more adventurous, chose to run massive hydraulic presses that cut metal parts while others used cranes to move bulky plane parts from one end of the factory to the other. They even had women inspectors to ensure any necessary adjustments were made before the planes were flown out to war often by female pilots. The majority of the planes they built were either large bombers or small fighters.Weatherford, Doris. American Women during World War II. p.12
Although most Americans were reluctant to allow women into traditionally male jobs, women proved that they could not only do the job but in some instances, they did it better than their male counterparts. For example, women in general paid more attention to detail. As the foreman of California Consolidated Aircraft once told the Saturday Evening Post, "Nothing gets by them unless it's right."Weatherford, Doris. American Women during World War II. New York: Routledge, 2010, p.14 The United States Department of Labor even states that when examining the number of holes drilled per day in the aircraft manufacturing industry, a man drilled 650 holes per day while a woman drilled 1,000 holes per day.the United States. Department of Labor. "Equal Pay in Women’s War Industries". Bulletin of the Women’s Bureau, no. 196. 1-26. 1942.
Two years after Pearl Harbor, some 475,000 women were working in aircraft factories - which, by comparison, was almost five times as many as ever joined the Women's Army Corps.
Other industries that women entered were the metal industry, steel industry, shipbuilding industry, and automobile industry.Jeffries, John W. War Time America: The World War II Home Front (1996). Women also worked in plants where bombs, weaponry, and aircraft were made.Weatherford, American Women and World War II
Mothers in the workforce
Many of the women called upon to fill the labor gap following the draft were mothers. They had to face the challenges of balancing both duties to the household as well as the need to contribute to the war effort. Despite some widespread disagreement, mothers began to seek out employment since they were financially vulnerable. Eventually, government encouragement and assistance with childcare saw more and more women entering the workforce.
The draft, which began in 1940, saw about ten million actually serve out of the fifty million that had initially registered. Initially, men classified as having dependents in their households, such as spouses and children (excluding common law spouses), were exempt from the draft. This left only 10% of men eligible to be drafted and go to war. By 1941, many exemptions were revoked, leaving many families without their primary breadwinners, and many employers had an urgent need for workers to fill their spots. Early on, popular media pushed back against mothers entering the workforce, reinforcing traditional gender roles. Despite negative attitudes, many mothers were compelled to join the workforce as the war progressed. Come 1943, with so many men deployed, mothers had little choice but to seek work to provide.
With the number of women entering the workforce growing, the government began encouraging employers to hire these women to fill any labor gaps that they needed. The War Manpower Commission, a government agency, was at the frontlines and was one of the main sources of encouragement to hire women and mothers. Between 1940 and 1944, the number of employed women rose by 50%, and married women by 76%.
This influx of working mothers created a large demand for childcare resources. Several women struggled to balance the responsibilities of the workplace as well as the home, often facing exhaustion and burnout. Absenteeism among working women was often caused by domestic and family obligations. Eventually, a call for increased support in childcare arose, with many arguing that mothers needed assistance with maintaining their households as well as their jobs.
Preceding World War II, options for childcare were quite scarce. Programs such as the Works Project Administration and the Emergency Nursery School program existed, however, the conditions of the facilities that emerged from these programs were less than adequate. Many children became "latchkey kids", who were left to care for themselves or to be supervised by older siblings, which brought up many other concerns regarding safety. In response, the government worked to increase solutions to the issue of childcare.