CHANGING ROLES
Women in World War II took on a variety of roles. Some of them embraced the traditional position of women as caretakers and home makers. Others offered new opportunities, from which women had been previously excluded. The global conflict on an unprecedented scale and the absolute urgency of mobilizing the entire population made the expansion of the role of women inevitable. In the United States, the hard skilled labor of women was symbolized by the concept of Rosie the Riveter, a woman factory laborer performing what was previously considered man's work.
LABOR
Nearly 19 million American women held jobs during World War II, out of which around 6 million entered the labor force as new female workers. Government campaigns targeting women were addressed mostly to housewives, likely because already-employed women would move to the higher-paid "essential" jobs on their own, or perhaps because it was assumed that most potential new workers were housewives. One government advertisement asked women: "Can you use an electric mixer? If so, you can learn to operate a drill." Propaganda was also directed at men, many of whom were unwilling to support women in the labor force and particularly in industrial jobs. Women worked in the war industries, building ships, aircraft, vehicles, and weaponry. They also worked in factories and on farms, drove trucks, provided logistic support for soldiers, and entered professional areas of work that were previously the domain of men. They enlisted as nurses serving on the front lines and there was a great increase in the number of women serving for the military. Women also joined the federal government in massive numbers. Nearly a million of so-called "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.
Although many women took on male dominated trades during World War II, they were expected to return to housework once men returned from the war. In 1944, when victory seemed assured for the United States, government-sponsored propaganda changed by urging women back to working in the home. Later, many women returned to traditional female-dominated jobs such as clerical or administration positions, despite their reluctance to re-enter the lower-paying fields. At the end of the war, most of the munitions-making jobs ended. Many factories were closed, others retooled for civilian production. In some jobs, women were replaced by returning veterans. However the number of women at work in 1946 was 87% of the number in 1944, leaving 13% who lost or quit their jobs. The overall percentage of women working fell from 36% to 28% in 1947.
CIVILIANS ON HOMEFRONT
Women staffed millions of jobs in community service roles, such as nursing, the United Service Organizations, and Red Cross. Women were also encouraged to collect and turn in materials that were needed by the war effort. They collected fats rendered during cooking, children formed balls of aluminum foil they peeled from chewing gum wrappers, and also created rubber band balls, which they contributed to the war effort. The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) mobilized 1000 civilian women who flew stateside missions chiefly to ferry planes when male pilots were in short supply. They were the first women to fly American military aircraft. Accidents killed 38. The WASP was disbanded in 1944 when enough male veterans were available.
WOMEN IN THE MILITARY
More than 60,000 Army nurses (military nurses were all women then) served stateside and overseas during World War II. They were kept far from combat. In 1943 Dr. Margaret Craighill became the first female doctor to become a commissioned officer in the United States Army Medical Corps.
The Army established the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) in 1942. WAACs served overseas in North Africa in 1942. The WAAC, however, never accomplished its goal of making available to "the national defense the knowledge, skill, and special training of the women of the nation." It was converted to the Women's Army Corps (WAC) in 1943, and recognized as an official part of the regular army. More than 150,000 women served in WACs and thousands were sent to the European and Pacific theaters.
In 1945, the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion - the only all African-American, all-female battalion during World War II - worked in England and France, making them the first black female battalion to travel overseas. WWII black recruitment was limited to 10 percent for the WAAC/WAC—matching the percentage of African-Americans in the US population at the time. For the most part, Army policy reflected segregation policy. Enlisted basic training was segregated for training, living and dining. At enlisted specialists schools and officer training living quarters were segregated, but training and dining were integrated. A total of 6,520 African-American women served during the war.
Asian-Pacific-American women first entered military service during World War II. The Women's Army Corps (WAC) recruited 50 Japanese-American and Chinese-American women and sent them to the Military Intelligence Service Language School at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, for training as military translators. In 1943, the Women's Army Corps recruited a unit of Chinese-American women to serve with the Army Air Forces as "Air WACs." Air WACs served in a large variety of jobs, including aerial photo interpretation, air traffic control, and weather forecasting.
The Navy also recruited women into its Navy Women's Reserve, called Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES), starting in 1942. Before the war was over, 84,000 WAVES filled shore billets in a large variety of jobs in communications, intelligence, supply, medicine, and administration. The Navy refused to accept Japanese-American women throughout World War II.
The Marine Corps created the Marine Corps Women's Reserve in 1943. That year, the first female officer of the United States Marine Corps was commissioned, and the first detachment of female marines was sent to Hawaii for duty in 1945. Marine women served stateside as clerks, cooks, mechanics, drivers, and in a variety of other positions. By the end of World War II, 85% of the enlisted personnel assigned to Headquarters U.S. Marine Corps were women.
In 1941 the first civilian women were hired by the Coast Guard to serve in secretarial and clerical positions. In 1942 the Coast Guard established their Women's Reserve known as the SPARs (after the motto Semper Paratus - Always Ready). SPARs were assigned stateside and served as storekeepers, clerks, photographers, pharmacist's mates, cooks, and in numerous other jobs. More than 11,000 SPARs served during World War II.
In all, 350,000 American women served in the U.S. military during World War II.
DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS
As economic prosperity empowered couples who had postponed marriage and parenthood, the birth rate started shooting up in 1941, paused in 1944-45 (with 12 million men in service), and then continued to soar until reaching a peak in the late 1950s (the post-war "baby boom"). However, housing shortages, especially in the munitions centers, forced millions of couples to live with parents or in makeshift facilities. Little housing had been built in the Depression years, so the shortages grew steadily worse until about 1948, when a massive housing boom finally caught up with demand. Federal law made it difficult to divorce absent servicemen, so the number of divorces peaked when many returned in 1946. In long-range terms, however, divorce rates changed little.
Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS)
Around 350,000 American women served in the U.S. military during World War II, including these members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP).