Women's+Role+in+WWII

**Stay at Home Women**
 * Women's Role in World War 2 ** **Emma Madura**
 * Thesis- During World War 2, the role of women changed, and they were forced to step up in their role at home, work in production factories, and join the military, all to help in the war effort. **

"No women responsible for the care of young children should be encouraged or compelled to seek employment which deprives their children of essential care until all other sources of supply are exhausted." Paul McNutt

Women were encouraged to stay at home to care for their children, because the government felt that that was a better use of their resources then working in factories.

Women at home were encouraged to start their own victory gardens to help out in the war effort



Victory Gardens small gardens that family could have in their back yard which produced tomatos, lettuce, and beans

prevented them from having to use up the countries supplies

Forced to Ration their supplies with the Rationing Syatem had to cut back on their rations such as:

food- coffee, tea, butter, and milk

CLothing- silk, cotton, and wool

Women made rationing system sucessful because of their cooperation with the federal government

Women were forced to complete their usual tasks but with less rations and reasources Cooking Cleaning

women were urged by organized propaganda campaigns to practice frugality, and to carry groceries instead of using the car to preserve tire rubber for the war effort

women were also urged to buy war bonds, which were bonds that people could buy from the government to give them money for the war effort and yielded a 2.9 percent return after a 10-year maturity


 * Women in the Production Factories **

women were forced to fill jobs that were traditionally men's jobs

During World War II the percentage of American women who worked outside the home at paying work increased from 25% to 36%.

more mothers, more minority women found jobs than had before the war

Many employers refused to hire women at first, but eventually were forced to because they needed workers for their factories

In 1942, the National War Labor Board (NWLB) attempted to erase some of the long standing inequalities in women's pay and women would be paid the same as men for the same or comparable work

Women who joined the labor force as a result of World War II were often referred to as "production soldiers."

Their standard work week was 48 hours, though many women frequently worked overtime, Sunday was their only day off, and most vacations and holidays were cancelled.

Women had to make many sacrifices during the war and fill the positions of the men while still managing their homes and caring for their families.

Women found themselves in participating in every aspect of the war industry from making military clothing to building fighter jets

American women worked day and night.

Women of all ages operated lare cranes which were used to move heavy tanks and artillery, and worked to build many other important war machines and equipment



Virginia Women and the Second World War by Jennifer McDavid
 * Primary Source **

I n 1941, when the United States entered World War II, men joined the armed forces and left crucial jobs vacant. Some 300,000 Virginians served in uniform, and more than 7,000 never returned home. With fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons off fighting for freedom, Virginia women stepped into their shoes on assembly lines, behind typewriters, and in garages. For many women, the war provided their first opportunity to work outside the home. It certainly gave them the chance to show they could perform jobs previously monopolized by men. The Richmond Engineering Company employed women welders to make bomb heads. In Lynchburg and Radford, women took wartime jobs in foundries and were congratulated for their expertise in the industry’s magazine, //The Iron Worker //: “Ladies take a bow. You are doing an expert double-barreled job of helping whip the Axis.” Although some women were paid less than their male counterparts, at federal installations they earned equal wages

McDaid, Jennifer Davis, comp. [|Virginia Women and the Second World War] [online]. Richmond: Library of Virginia, February 2001 [cited 12 January 2002]. Available from: http://www.lva.lib.va.us/whatwehave/notes/WomenofWWI.pdf.  Analysis of Primary Source

The purpose of this primary source is to inform Americans of the work that women were doing to help the war effort in their local communities. It is an account of women working in factories in Virginia. They were able to preform the same jobs as the men did before they went to war. The women during the war were forced to step up in their communities to help the country in its time of need, and they did a good job of preforming the important tasks.

Primary Source ** "I went to two or three plants and took their tests. And they all told me I had absolutely no mechanical ability. I said, "I don't believe that." So I went to another plant, A.D.E.I. I wasa interviewed and got the job. This particular plant made the hydrualic-valve system for the B-17. And where did they put women? In the burr room. You sat at a workbench, which was essentially like a picnic table, with a bunch of other women, and you worked the grinding and sanding machine pasts to make them smooth. That's what you did all day long. It was very mechanical and very boring. There were about thrity women in the burr room, and it was like being in a beauty shop every day. I couldn't stand the inane talk. So when they asked me of I would like to work someplace else in the shop, I said I very much would.

Analysis of Primary Source

This primary source shows the increase of women in the production factories. It is an account of a women working in one of the war time factories trying to aid her country in the war effort. The women did not enjoy her job, but did what she needed to in order to help her country.

America in World War 2. (2006). In //The American Spirit// (pp. 372-374). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. (Reprinted from //A Women Remembers the War (1984)//, pp. 126-129, by M. J. Harris, 1984) **Women in the Military**

150,000 American women served in the women's Army Corps (WAC) during World War II

This was the first war in which women became actively involved in the military

Members of the WAC were the first women other than nurses to serve within the ranks of the United States Army

Both the Army and the American public had a difficult time accepting the concept of women in uniform

Given the opportunity to make a major contribution to the national war effort, women seized it. By the end of the war their contributions would be widely appreciated.



Women also contribiuted to the war effort by becoming nurses on the front lines of the battlefields, and in hospitals

More than 59,000 American nurses served in the Army Nurse Corps during World War II

The nurses in the war were very skilled and fewer than 4 percent of the American soldiers who received medical care in the field or underwent evacuation form war nurses died from wounds or disease

in June 1944, the government granted its nurses officers' commissions and full retirement privileges, dependents' allowances, and equal pay as men

the government provided free education to nursing students between 1943 and 1948



** Primary Source ** Analysis of Primary Source

In this recruiting poster, the Red Cross is trying to get more women to become nurses in World War 2. Because of the lack of nurses, the Red Cross was in desprate need of nurses to car for the wounded men, and assist the doctors.

//Google//. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20, 2009, from http://images.google.com/ imgres?imgurl=https://dspace.lasrworks.org/bitstream/10349/557/1/ Fighting_Men_Need_Nurses.jpg&imgrefurl=https://dspace.lasrworks.org/handle/10349/ 557&usg=__zyirvGcqDzb9eB6wP9AFV4kRBqU=&h=2744&w=2040&sz=2049&hl=en&start=1&um=1&t bnid=Vs-ryiZwYWu7HM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=112&prev=/ images%3Fq%3Dfighting%2Bmen%2Bneed%2Bnurses%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4HPIB_enUS310US31 0%26um%3D1

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Works Cited America in World War 2. (2006). In //The American Spirit// (pp. 372-374). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. (Reprinted from //A Women Remembers the War (1984)//, pp. 126-129, by M. J. Harris, 1984)

Bellafaire, J. A. (2005, February 25). //The Women's Army Corps: A Commemoration// //of World War II Service//. Retrieved May 19, 2009, from SIRS Knoledge Center database: http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/ hst-source-display?id=SSD117-0-8845&type=ART&artno=0000249115&key=women%20primary %20sources&shfilter=U&auth_checked=Y

//Google//. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20, 2009, from http://images.google.com/ imgres?imgurl=https://dspace.lasrworks.org/bitstream/10349/557/1/ Fighting_Men_Need_Nurses.jpg&imgrefurl=https://dspace.lasrworks.org/handle/10349/ 557&usg=__zyirvGcqDzb9eB6wP9AFV4kRBqU=&h=2744&w=2040&sz=2049&hl=en&start=1&um=1&t bnid=Vs-ryiZwYWu7HM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=112&prev=/ images%3Fq%3Dfighting%2Bmen%2Bneed%2Bnurses%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4HPIB_enUS310US31 0%26um%3D1

//History//. (n.d.). Retrieved May 23, 2009, from http://www.history.army.mil/books/ wwii/72-14/72-14.htm

//San Diego History//. (n.d.). Retrieved May 25, 2009, from http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/st/~cg3/pageone.html

//San Diego History//. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20, 2009, from http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/st/~cg3/pagetwo.html

//Women's History//. (n.d.). Retrieved May 19, 2009, from http://womenshistory.about.com/od/warwwii/a/overview.htm

//Women's History//. (n.d.). Retrieved May 18, 2009, from http://womenshistory.about.com/od/warwwii/a/women_work.htm