Women During WWII

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Pages: 3

During WWII (1939 - 1945) life on the home front in the U.S consisted of many high expectations of civilians to do their part, especially women.
Women’s duty to replace men:
- Women were the single largest untapped labor resource in the country, filling almost every type of job left vacant by men departing to war for the military (Hanes).
- Between the years 1940 and 1945, 6 million women entered the workforce for the first time, occupying up to 36 percent (Coster).
- It was imperative that workers were quickly replaced as the American factories and industries were preparing to manufacture huge amounts of war materials (Hanes).
Women’s effectiveness in the workforce:
- Women’s skills and abilities were recognized and proven better than men in some areas as they were
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- They were capable of accomplishing 50% of the labor that is required to manufacture a modern airplane at the time (Taylor).
Women’s specific contribution in the war industry:
- Women worked in the aircraft industries, building aircraft, ships, and munitions such as bombers, transport planes, and boeing B-17 fortress planes (Taylor).
- Women worked in factories and in assembly lines making uniforms and parachutes, took over jobs that required maintenance of the railroads and trains, and worked as telephone operators too (Coster).
- They worked on everything from radio wiring to tubing-detail assemblies and even plumbing. Some even put together artillery shells, ground lenses for gun sights and bombsights, made gas masks, or mended parachutes. (Taylor).
Women funding the war:
- Women maintained funds for defense production as civil defense organizations were formed such as the American Women's Voluntary Services (Coster).
- After the Great Depression, women played a prominent role in selling and even buying war bonds to fund defense production” (Women in World War