WORLD WAR II AND WOMEN WORKERS

World War II and Women Workers



World War II and Women Workers

Introduction

During the Second World War the percentage of American women who worked outside the men to pay for work increased from 25% to 36%. More married women, mothers with more and more minority women found jobs they had before the war.

Due to the absence of many men who either joined the military or took jobs in war production industries, some women move beyond their traditional roles and took up positions in jobs usually reserved for men. Propaganda posters with images like "Rosie the Riveter" promoted the idea that it was patriotic - and some women do not - for women working in nontraditional jobs. "If you used an electric mixer in your kitchen, you can learn to run a drill press, urged a war between the United States labor campaigns. As an example in the shipbuilding industry the U.S., where women had been excluded from almost all jobs, except an office job just before the war, the presence of women was more than 9% of workforce during the war.

Discussion

Thousands of women moved to Washington, DC, to take over the government and odd jobs. There were many jobs for women in Los Alamos and Oak Ridge, as the U.S. explores nuclear weapons. Minority women benefited from the June 1941 Executive Order 8802, issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, after A. Philip Randolph threatened a march on Washington to protest racial discrimination.

The shortage of workers resulted in opportunities for women in other non-traditional areas. The All-American Girls Baseball League was created during this period, reflecting the shortage of male baseball players in the league.

The large increase in the presence of women in the workforce also means that those who were mothers had to deal with issues such ...