“Slacks and Calluses: Our Summer in a Bomber Factory” is a book that describes the summer of two teachers, Constance Bowman Reid and Clara Marie Allen, working in a bomber factory for the military of the United States. This book explains how women’s role in society began to change during the time of World War II. Throughout this book, the author, Constance Bowman Reid, describes the way they were treated due to being female, how the country felt about women going to work in factories during the summer of 1943, and why women decided to work in bomber factories for the US during World War II.
Constance Reid describes how there were many things that defined women such as what clothes they wore and what they occupation they carried. During this era, women were known to be classy in ways like females usually wore skirts in public and had careers as nurses or teachers. The “dirty” jobs were reserved for men. This image of women caused several men to not show the same respect to women as they did other men. Thus, resulting with the men in charge of the factories, like the foreman and lead men, behaving as though they did not approve of women in the factory. Throughout the book there were
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The women would request to be on either the day or night shift based on which shift their husband had been assigned. Some women were working simply because they did not have a high school diploma. This opportunity allowed those women to get out and participate in society. Also, women like Constance and Clara Marie were working during the summer just to support their families and prove to others that two teachers in San Diego could build B-24 bombers. However, as the summer continued both ladies felt as if their jobs had become more of a responsibility and they should do them to the best of their ability for their