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From housewives and mothers to factory workers and farm hands, women across the country were central to the war effort. How did this experience change their lives?
- Overview
- Rosie the Riveter was more influential than glamour girls.
- Women in civilian jobs learned valuable skills.
- Women served in dangerous roles in the U.S. military.
- Working women endured harassment, miserable working conditions and low pay.
- Women’s roles continued to expand in the postwar era.
- HISTORY Vault: World War II
How did women's service during World War II inspire their fight for social change and equality?
Prior to World War II, women were mostly homemakers. Those that worked outside the home usually worked as secretaries, receptionists or department store clerks.
Once America entered World War II, however, men went off to war by the millions and women stepped into the civilian and military jobs they left behind. Women were proud to serve their country—but how did their service during the war inspire their fight for social change and equality?
American Women in World War II
As America’s war machine went into action, the government initiated a massive publicity campaign to persuade women to replace men on assembly lines in factories and defense plants. They produced posters and film reels of glamorous women in the workplace to entice women to serve their country as part of the home-front labor force.
Yet the not-so-glamorous image of Rosie the Riveter depicting a confident-looking woman wearing coveralls and a red bandana and flexing her muscles under the headline, “We Can Do It!” remains one of the best-known icons of World War II.
Naomi Parker, more famously known as Rosie the Riveter, working in heels at the Alameda Naval Air station during WWII.
According to Kevin Hymel, historian at the U.S. Air Force Medical Service History Office,“With their men away, women became more self-sufficient. Many brought tools home from work and used them on their own home repairs. They took on domestic roles they never had before.”
World War II mobilization affected women by introducing them to new lines of work not typically suited for women at the time. It’s estimated that up to six million women joined the civilian workforce during World War II in both white and blue-collar jobs, such as:
•streetcar operators
•taxi drivers
•construction workers
Around 350,000 women served in the military during World War II. “Women in uniform took on mostly clerical duties as well as nursing jobs,” said Hymel.
“The motto was to free a man up to fight. Some women became translators in Naval Intelligence, enabling them to read classified enemy communiques. One woman said when she was inducted to Naval Intelligence, an admiral spoke to the assembled women and told them, ‘If you talk about anything you do here, we can legally kill you.’”
Women also served as truck drivers, radio operators, engineers, photographers and non-combat pilots. And the all-black, all-women 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion was sent first to Birmingham, England, and then to Rouen, France, to process huge backlogs of undelivered mail.
According to Hymel, “The women in the most danger were nurses, who often came under artillery and aircraft fire near the front lines. They lived in the elements, sometimes in mud, heat and freezing temperatures, yet performed their duties alongside their male counterparts.”
Working women on the home front faced unique challenges, too. Those with children struggled with child care and caring for a household on their own. Many had to learn to manage their finances for the first time and cope with a tight budget further strained by war rationing and the call to buy war bonds.
At first, women weren’t always welcomed into the workplace. They received less pay and some men looked down on them and felt they weren’t up to handling a “man’s job.” They often faced sexual harassment, long hours and dangerous working conditions.
The call for working women was meant to be temporary and women were expected to leave their jobs after the war ended. Some women were okay with this—but they left their posts with new skills and more confidence. Women who remained in the workplace were usually demoted.
But after their selfless efforts during World War II, men could no longer claim superiority over women. Women had enjoyed and even thrived on a taste of financial and personal freedom—and many wanted more.
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- Annette Mcdermott
The Women’s Royal Naval Service was reformed in April 1939. Women were recruited for shore-based jobs to release men for service at sea. By 1943, there were 74,000 WRNS (or 'Wrens') serving in the UK and overseas. Wrens played a major part in the planning and organisation of naval operations.
Women have played an essential role in the functions of NASA for almost a century. Learn about some of those women here.
The Second World War changed the United States for women, and women in turn transformed their nation. Over three hundred fifty thousand women volunteered for military service, while twenty times as many stepped into civilian jobs, including positions previously closed to them.
Women replaced men in many of the roundhouse jobs during World War II. Photo taken January 1943. When war began to look unavoidable in the late 1930s, Canadian women felt obligated to help the fight. In October 1938, the Women's Volunteer Service was established in Victoria, British Columbia.
Our records show the contributions of women to the Second World War from many points of view, ranging from glamorous propaganda, to secret files, to comical insights into human experience. Some...
