World War II
["Enter Defense Plants at Same Pay as Men After Completing
Training Courses in Schools Here; Jobs Are Created by War," Wichita Eagle,
January 19, 1942.]
Women who took short vocational training courses through various training programs, such as the National Youth Administration, received job offers for quick employment upon completion of their work. By mid-January 1942, women had taken many specialized positions in the Great Plains aircraft plants where they worked "men's jobs" and received "men's pay," that is 60 cents an hour at entry.
Women who took short vocational training courses through various training programs, such as the National Youth Administration, received job offers for quick employment upon completion of their work. By mid-January 1942, women had taken many specialized positions in the Great Plains aircraft plants where they worked "men's jobs" and received "men's pay," that is 60 cents an hour at entry.
During World War II, some 350,000 women served in the U.S. Armed Forces, both at home and abroad. They included the Women's Airforce Service Pilots, who on March 10, 2010, were awarded the prestigious Congressional Gold Medal. Meanwhile, widespread male enlistment left gaping holes in the industrial labor force. Between 1940 and 1945, the female percentage of the U.S. workforce increased from 27 percent to nearly 37 percent, and by 1945 nearly one out of every four married women worked outside the home.
"Rosie the Riveter"
While women worked in a variety of positions previously closed to them, the aviation industry saw the greatest increase in female workers. More than 310,000 women worked in the U.S. aircraft industry in 1943, representing 65 percent of the industry's total workforce (compared to just 1 percent in the pre-war years). The munitions industry also heavily recruited women workers, as represented by the U.S. government's "Rosie the Riveter" propaganda campaign. Based in small part on a real-life munitions worker, but primarily a fictitious character, the strong, bandanna-clad Rosie became one of the most successful recruitment tools in American history, and the most iconic image of working women during World War II. |