Women’s Roles During WWII

Some of the jobs that women took over were working in defense plants, volunteering for war-related organizations, as well as managing their household (Women in WWII at a Glance). They were also switchboard operators, telegraphers, mechanics, and drivers (How the War Changed the Role of Women). They became “police officers, taxicab drivers, lawyers, statisticians, journalists, members of orchestras, and ran farms” (Colman, P. 1995). Women were expected to work long hours, but they were proud to help out with the war in any way possible. In 1941 women were already “building dive bombers, making time fuses for high-explosive shells, turning out millions of rounds of machine-gun and small-arms ammunition, inspecting aircraft engines, and making rubber flotation bags for planes” (Colman, P. 1995). Eleanor Roosevelt was a big supporter of the new roles of women in the workplace. She said “in this present time of crisis it is going to be women who will tip the scales and bring us safely out of it” (Knadd, D.B. 2012).

During the war “the women increased the workforce by 50 percent. Racial barriers were broken as various minority members went to work” (Rosie the Riveter). Between 1940 and 1945 “the female percentage of the US workforce increased from twenty-seven percent to nearly thirty-seven percent, and by 1945 nearly one out of every four married women worked outside the home” (American Women in WWII). This was one of the first times that women were able to hold jobs that were viewed as “necessary and valuable” (Partners in Winning the War). Before World War II “women in the labor force were generally young and single. By the end of the war, women in the labor force were generally married and over thirty-five years old” (Colman, P. 1995).

Here are some first hand accounts of women that were employed during WWII.