As World War 2 progresses, we will see millions of males being drafted after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. This created a lack of manpower in the workforce which women beginning to take the jobs that men usually before the war. As women move into the workforce during World War 2 they will experience inequality and discrimination. Despite the inequality and discrimination that women had to endure to while working during World War 2 was a good experience for women across America. Women entered the workforce open up many opportunities, “It had been long assumed women couldn't do those jobs -- engineering, other professions in the sciences, manufacturing jobs that had been considered men's work, things women were believed to be too weak to do” (kcts9.org).
The second World War resulted in a demand for workers after men began leaving for the war. Due to a lot of the working men in America going overseas as well as the demand for war products, women became a major source of labor. Propaganda began to address women, persuading them that it was their duty to start working for the men. The film The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter gives personal accounts of some of the hardships women faced in the era surrounding WWII, and how the media was used to create a desire for women to work.
Women contributions to the workforce rose from 24% in 1914 to 37% in 1918. Women had to take over all of the men’s jobs, the physical and financial burden of caring for families. These jobs included farming, deliveries, weaponry work, printing, teaching and shop assistants. The years during the war 1914-1918 were extremely busy and stressful for both the women and the children. Women’s organisations became very active during the time of the war.
This evoked a large response from a group of “working women” that were not willing to leave the workforce to resume their past roles as housewives, proving that women in this time wanted to work and gain a sense of personal independence . This was because it opened up many more opportunities in every aspect of their lives. This further developed Australia’s ultimate view on women, their ambitions and abilities.. As shown in the photograph of a protest in Sydney, Parliament House in 1972 ( a substantial amount of time after WW1) although women were being given the opportunity to work during WW1, they were still not being treated with equality in terms of pay etc; even after an extensive period of time after WW1. This caused women to protest constantly following WW1 and revealed the longing women had to contribute to the sustainability of Australia through working.
The government told newspapers, magazines, TV networks, etc., to publish content specifically targeted to women to recruit them to the workforce. In 1943, a pamphlet called “Women At Work” planted the fear of quote on quote “civilian life breaking down” due to lack of people doing everyday jobs (“Rosie the Riveter: Real Women Workers in World War Two”). Jobs such as elevator operators, newspaper deliverers, nurses, etc. The pamphlet sold unbelievably well, mainly due to the fact that that fear was not an irrational one, but one that was grounded on evidence from the past. World War Two happened roughly soon after the Great Depression, where unemployment percentages raised and the stock market collapsed.
Pugh claims that ‘People had simply changed their minds in the sense that male prejudice against women had melted in face of revelations about their capabilities during wartime and their contribution to war effort’. Pugh’s view has somewhat strong validity because women were able to move away from stereotypical roles as they took on male jobs and endured the horrible work conditions and pay - this helped support their country showing patriotism and shifting society’s mindset. This can be supported as on factories and farms it was usually calculated that it would need three women to do the work of two men. Statistics support this claim as the number of women employed was between 1-2 million, this was impacted by the help of the Women’s War Register providing employment. However, not all views were changed as some employers made agreements with unions promising to protect skilled men’s jobs after the war; portraying traditional views of women were still present - they were still expected of maintaining their ‘wife and mother’ role.
The iconic figure of women working in shipyards and factories came to term as Rosie The Riveter during World War II when women were encouraged and praised for working in place of the men who fought for the country. It was not only the men fighting who helped win the war for the allies, the women working to build the fighter planes and other war machines were victorious on the home front. Throughout the 1940’s, propaganda posters were widely used to promote patriotism in war efforts whether it was to get more men to fight in the war or it was to get women to fill in the shoes of the men. The famous propaganda poster of Rosie The Riveter was used to promote the bravery and strength of women workers, the famous caption being “we can do it” to
Not only were the women recruited into the old jobs vacated by the men, who had gone to fight in the war, but new jobs were also created as part of the war effort. The government’s attitude towards female employment at first was negative as they were reluctant to allow the women to do any jobs left by the men. This later changed, as the government began pushing forward the idea of employment of women through campaigns and recruitment drives. Working as railway guards and ticket collectors, buses and tram conductors, postal workers, police, firefighters and as bank tellers and clerks, women began to change the concept of what was before deemed as ‘men’s
Years earlier, during the Great Depression, women were discouraged from getting jobs so that the few jobs that were available could go to men. However, when World War ll started, the governement now wanted women to start entering the workforce. They created the Rosie the Riveter campaign to try and entice women into getting jobs. In one version of the Rosie the Riveter poster, she was standing on a copy of Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler’s political rulebook. The message this sent out to women was essentially that although men were on the frontlines doing the physical fighting, women were also doing their part to defeat the enemy and help people.
Looking at the short story written by Meridel Le Sueur, women were struggling trying to find work. Women constantly waited, sat there “hour after hour, day after day, waiting for a job to come in.” When World War II started, it gave women the opportunity they have been desperately waiting for and it benefited the nation greatly. Women worked in all types of jobs ranging from ammunition to being welders and shipbuilders. Even though women faced inequality and gender segregation, women continued to push and demonstrate their competence in the workforce.
Women came out from every corner to support men fighting on the front line. Contributing to this, there had been a revolutionary mobilization in the workforce. Even disabled men did not hesitate to work for the great cause of the country. Hercules Powder Company encouraged men who were not able or allowed to deploy to aid in the war effort by working in munitions manufacturing. The women workforce relieved men for combat duties by taking over a variety of jobs in the maintenance of the planes.
Although these jobs created a sense of independence for women, as men came back they were quickly shifted back into their pre-war roles, more than 3 million women had to leave their wartime jobs. In short, there was a domestic change in women’s roles within society because Women had to shift from their traditional home roles to new wartime
The war had provided a variety of employment opportunities for women and the most common job for women was at home, working in factories and filling in positions for their husbands, fathers, and brothers in their absence. Although the highest demand for workers were in previously male-dominated
In the article it says that women entered jobs like engineering, other professions, and manufacturing jobs that many people believed that those jobs were too dangerous for women and women were too weak. In their jobs, women made airplanes, warships, munitions, and tanks working in technical and scientific fields. Also, after the war, women were still employed as secretaries, waitresses, or in other clerical jobs. This was often called the “pink collar” force. This article shows how sometimes women are given clerical jobs that show people underestimate the abilities of women.
In the book written by (Gavin, 1997) it was cited that “As women took over from their absent men in hundreds of new and challenging occupations, many of which had previously been considered inappropriate”. From the beginning of the World War 1, the German women were participating a great deal. They contributed to half a million-people working on the munitions manufacturing alone (Gavin, 1997). It also mentioned in the book that over in the U.S, the men in charge refused to let the women participate up until April 1917 (Gavin, 1997). The U.S government never formally authorize the enrolment of women, despite Army officials repeatedly asking for such personnel’s.
