Introduction

A Historical Context for these Documents

The United States fought World War II on the home front as well as overseas, and working women were essential to the success of the war effort. Between 1940 and 1945 the number of women in the labor force increased by 50 percent. For those women who had already been employed, the war offered opportunities to move into higher paying industrial jobs from which they were previously excluded. As a result, the number of women in manufacturing jobs more than doubled. In particular, women played a vital role in the critical defense industries. During the war, the female presence in defense plants jumped over 400 percent; in the aircraft industry alone, women made up 39 percent of the work force. Nonetheless, in the postwar period, many of the gains made during wartime were lost. Upon reconversion of the war economy, female war workers were often compelled to return to more traditional women's work.

Even before Pearl Harbor, the war in Europe spurred production in the United States. At first, men took the new positions, but by mid-1942, as more and more men left the work force to join the armed services, government and industry recognized "womanpower" as a national resource that remained to be tapped. During the Great Depression, prevailing attitudes had discouraged women, especially those who were married or not in dire economic distress, from seeking jobs that would otherwise be held by men. These constraints were lifted during the wartime emergency. Publicity campaigns orchestrated by the War Manpower Commission and the Office of War Information fostered this change, while the mass media glamorized women working in war jobs and praised them for their patriotism. The image of Rosie the Riveter, the plucky gal who donned overalls "for the duration," helped rally Americans at home and abroad.

As the ranks of female workers swelled, the types of work they did changed as well. Prior to World War II, some women had worked in light industrial jobs, as production line operatives, for example. In the first months of the war, work such as sewing and detailed assembly was allocated to women. At the advice of the War Manpower Commission employers trained the new female workers by comparing factory jobs to household tasks. But as need grew, women became welders and riveters in the aircraft, shipbuilding, and ordnance industries, dramatically demonstrating their competence in what were traditionally "male" jobs.

African-American women also made considerable, if short-lived, gains during wartime. Although 90 percent of these women had worked before the war, they too experienced job mobility, taking the domestic and service positions vacated by white women and the lower paying, less desirable duties in the factories.

Despite women's proven ability, management denied them equal status in the workplace. Women often encountered hostility or paternalistic condescension from male coworkers and managers. Segregation by gender was common on the shop floor, and separate seniority lists were kept for men and women. Many of the new industrial workers, both men and women, joined unions during the war, contributing to the growth of the CIO. While some unions supported the cause of equal pay for women in order to guarantee equity for all workers, more conservative labor organizations sought to preserve the benefits of the wartime production boom for their male membership and tolerated discrimination based on sex. Though all workers enjoyed pay increases during the war, the differential between men's and women's wages remained.

Even at the height of the demand for labor, debate continued over whether women with children should take war jobs. The policy of the War Manpower Commission was that "the first responsibility of women in war as in peace is to provide suitable care for their young children." Because of customary gender roles, working mothers also shouldered the burdens of housework and care of the family, which led to high rates of absenteeism and turnover in the factories. In 1943 the Roosevelt administration directed that funds Congress had allocated for construction of wartime facilities under the 1941 Lanham Act could be used to provide daycare centers. While some women benefited from these centers, many of those that were set up had high fees, short hours, and inconvenient locations. Few companies furnished their own child-care facilities, Nevertheless, married women composed 15 percent of the work force in 1940, and 25 percent by 1945. Prior to the war, women at work tended to be young and single. Rosie the Riveter, on the other hand, was not only married but over 35.

Just as the government was responsible for the unprecedented mobilization of women during the war years, it facilitated the return to the status quo afterward. In fact, the continued emphasis on the femininity of Rosie the Riveter served to remind the public that war jobs were temporary. Although women in higher paying industrial jobs often preferred to remain at work in the postwar years, they were expected to give up their war jobs for more traditional feminine roles once the war ended. The Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor recommended that new jobs be found for them, but by the end of 1945, industry had dismissed one in four working women. Twice as many quit voluntarily, choosing to return to domestic life after the upheaval of the war.

Although some women had seen their World War II experience as an opportunity to attain permanent equality in the work place, attitudes toward labor and gender that had prevailed before the war re-emerged largely intact afterward. Industry systematically excluded older and married women and African-American women from the work force to make way for returning soldiers. Emphasis on issues such as equal pay and the need for child care had been contingent upon the war emergency. After V-J Day, these issues became less pressing and were eventually brushed aside.

The historic transformation that took place in industry during World War II was more a temporary response to a great national emergency than a fundamental change of status for working women. Nevertheless, women did make significant gains. Their experience as war workers proved that when given a chance, women were capable of performing in the work place as well as men. And women personally benefited as they did their part for the war effort, saving lives overseas by stepping up production at home. In wartime polls the majority of working women indicated that they enjoyed their new jobs and particularly valued the chance to meet new people. Even though the wage differential remained, women's incomes increased substantially during the war. Despite postwar setbacks, women continued to enter the work force during the 1940s and 1950s, especially in traditionally female jobs, working as production line operatives or in the clerical, teaching, or health fields. Most important, the wartime work experience of women demonstrated that they were capable of an expanded role in society, which stimulated the feminist movement of the 1950s.

Resources

	Woman at Work
			Executive Order - Reaffirming policy of full participation in the defense program by all persons, ....
	Letter from the Philadelphia Gas Works Company to the Director of the Women's Bureau
			Letter from a War Wife to Mrs. Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor
	United States Employment Service leaflet giving 'Answers to questions women ask about war work'
			War Department leaflet - 'You're Going to Employ Women'
	Women's Bureau document - 'Factors Influencing Output'
			Front page from 'The Office of War Information' publication - 'Fornightly Budget for Wartime Editors of Women's Pages
	War Manpower Commission document - 'Policy on Employment of Married Women with Young Children'
			Cartoon
	Women at Work
			War Manpower Commission document - 'Recommendations concerning the separation of women from wartime jobs'
	Letter to President Truman from woman war worker
			Women at Work

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