Women on the Home Front and Abroad Brianna Romane

How much do you know about the women of the 1940s? Test Your Knowledge! 1) Women worked as military pilots during WWII. True False 2) WW II caused a labor shortage at home and women then filled in many positions previously held by men. True False 3) During the war women served in both the army and the navy. True False

"This is not a time when women should be patient. We are in a war and we need to fight it with all our ability and every weapon possible. WOMEN PILOTS, in this particular case, are a weapon waiting to be used." Eleanor Roosevelt, 1942.

WASPS  Who were the WASPs?  During World War II, a select group of young women pilots became pioneers, heroes, and role models...They were the Women Airforce Service Pilots  How did the WASPs get started?  In the early months of World War II, two accomplished women pilots, Jacqueline Cochran and Nancy Harkness Love presented separate proposals to 2 different offices in the United States Army Air Force. The visions of Ms Love and Ms Cochran were entirely opposite. Ms Love proposed that the ferry command hire a select group of licensed women pilots, who would then be paid to ferry military aircraft just as the civilian male pilots. Ms Cochran's plan included training as many women pilots as would qualify, militarize them as part of the Army Air Force, and put them through the exact same 6-7 month ARMY AIR FORCE flying training program the male cadets were taking. Upon graduation, they would be stationed in every AAF Command, learn to fly every type airplane the AAF had, and fly any mission requested of them.Jacqueline Cochran Nancy Harkness Love  At the beginning of the war, there were sufficient numbers of male pilots--and General Hap Arnold was opposed to the idea of any women flying military aircraft. However, after major losses of pilots in North Africa, pilots were in short supply. Arnold requested that Cochran return home from England to put her training program into effect. At the same time, the Ferry Command gave Nancy Love a green light to begin signing up women pilots. By late 1942, both proposals were implemented....and eventually, the two separate groups merged into the Women Airforce Service Pilots. General Hap Arnold  mg38 mg38

WASP Deannie Bishop Parrish’s Interactive Scrapbook  WASPWWIISCRAPBOOK/resources/index.ht m?referrerUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wingsa crossamerica.us%2Fwasp%2Fgallery%2Finde x.htm WASPWWIISCRAPBOOK/resources/index.ht m?referrerUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wingsa crossamerica.us%2Fwasp%2Fgallery%2Finde x.htm

Watch real interviews with women pilots of WWII Wasp interviews

While the men are away... The women will TAKE THEIR JOBS!  Before the United States entered World War II, several companies already had contracts with the government to produce war equipment for the Allies.  Almost overnight the United States entered the war and war production had to increase dramatically in a short amount of time. Auto factories were converted to build airplanes, shipyards were expanded, and new factories were built, and all these facilities needed workers.  At first companies did not think that there would be a labor shortage so they did not take the idea of hiring women seriously. Eventually, women were needed because companies were signing large, lucrative contracts with the government just as all the men were leaving for the service.

 The government decided to launch a propaganda campaign to sell the importance of the war effort and to lure women into working. propaganda campaign  They promoted the fictional character of “Rosie the Riveter” as the ideal woman worker: loyal, efficient, patriotic, and pretty.  A song, “Rosie the Riveter”, became very popular in Norman Rockwell’s image on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on May 29, 1943 was the first widely publicized pictorial representation of the new “Rosie the Riveter”.  This led to many other “Rosie” images and women to represent that image. In many other locations and situations around the country, “Rosies” were found and used in the propaganda effort. A few months after Rockwell’s image, the most famous image of Rosie appeared in the government- commissioned poster “We Can Do It”

lBis  When the United States entered the war, 12 million women (one quarter of the workforce) were already working and by the end of the war, the number was up to 18 million (one third of the workforce).  While ultimately 3 million women worked in war plants, the majority of women who worked during World War II worked in traditionally female occupations, like the service sector.  The number of women in skilled jobs was actually few. Most women worked in tedious and poorly paid jobs in order to free men to take better paying jobs or to join the service.  The only area that there was a true mixing of the sexes was in semiskilled and unskilled blue-collar work in factories (Campbell 100).  Traditionally female clerical positions were able to maintain their numbers and recruit new women. These jobs were attractive because the hours were shorter, were white- collar, had better job security, had competitive wages, and were less physically strenuous and dirty. The demand for clerical workers was so great that it exceeded the supply (Anderson 32).

WAACs and WAVES  The Navy experienced a similar "manpower" shortage after the battles of Coral Sea and Midway. On July 30, 1942, the Women's Naval Reserve Act passed Congress creating the WAVES, Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, and the Marine Corp Women's Reserve.  There was one significant difference between the WAACs and the WAVES; the WAVES from their creation were in the Navy, not considered an auxiliary.  The wartime demands rapidly escalated after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. As the war manpower crisis increased, the importance of women's potential contributions to the war effort became apparent.  The movement to create the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps garnered support from influential women and women's organizations, which asserted that women had the right to exercise all the responsibilities of citizenship, including military service.  The increasing demand for military personnel overcame resistance to women in the military, and military officials realized that WAACs could free men for combat duty. The WAAC bill passed Congress on March 15, 1942.

WHAT IS ONE THING THAT ALL OF THESE ROLES HAVE IN COMMON?? BESIDES THE OBVIOUS………… ?

PROPAGANDA!  When it was suggested that World War II was approaching, Americans did not want to go to war. Having sustained losses in World War I and only now coming out of an economic crisis, most Americans thought that energies should be spent here at home, improving America, instead of becoming involved in war overseas.  Even as the war started in Europe with the invasion of France, many Americans thought that the U.S. should avoid becoming involved. However, the government recognized that American participation was necessary, and quickly stepped up pro-war propaganda.  This was not extremely successful until after Pearl Harbor, when the war no longer seemed comfortably distant but very close to home. At this point, it was necessary for the American propagandists to continue to convince the public that war was close at hand.  It was also necessary to begin stepping up production and conservation of materials for the war effort, because the Allies only tremendous advantage was their great production power.  As the war began in earnest, America increased the flood of propaganda, utilizing especially the radio and visual media, most specifically posters.

RESOURCES  WASP resources:   otographer.htm otographer.htm  Riveter resources:  Info:   Images:   WAAC/WAVES resources:   Propaganda resources:  htm htm 