Women's Role In Ww2

Throughout history, the roles of women in society have been continuously changing due to their actions and the persistently changing world. Few historians will doubt that women’s involvement in the World War 2 did not affect their role in the workforce. During World War II, 65 percent of the US Armed Forces’ total workforce was represented by more than 350,000 women who served in this industry both home and abroad. This increase is remarkable when comparing it the one percent in the pre-war years (Goldin, 753). As a whole, there were 5 million women working between 1940 and 1945, increasing the percentage of female workers in the U.S. workforce from 27 percent to almost 37 percent (Anderson, 239). By the end of the war, nearly one out every …show more content…
However, this did not stop all female workers from working as they slowly started to return for the satisfaction of working, economic convenience or necessity, or for the desire to buy more goods. Although in 1947 the participation of women in the labor force had decreased by 12%, women’s employment bounced back relatively quickly between 1947 and 1950. During this time, the percentage of female workers between 25-64 years of age increased by 2% and married working women increased from 20% to 23.8% (Goldin 742). As the years progressed, the notion of married women working, at least part-time, became more widespread. Hence, by 1960 “38% of married women worked but women were routinely sacked when they got pregnant and continued to be paid less than men even if they did the same jobs” (Striking Women). Despite the unfair treatment, women felt empowered to work. The improvement made during these years further supports the claim that the employment of women during World War II made long-term …show more content…
They point to the decreased percentages of working women in the 1945-1946 period. The percentage of female workers aged 20 to 24 declined from 54.4% to 46% and then in the same time women aged 25 to 34 reduced from 33.3% to 23% (Goldin 746). Women in the war industries were especially affected as the number of female automakers fell by 16.5% between 1944-1946 and 800,000 participants were laid off from the aircraft industry soon after the Japanese surrender (Anderson 4). Even though there was a downtrend during this time, it did not last long as women started to come back to work. They could not receive the same opportunities as they did during the war since men had replaced them, they found other jobs. Women were coming back for economic needs, they were working jobs that offered flexible schedules and accommodations for their children such as Tupperware sales since they could make money from home (Women’s Roles in the 1950’s). The number of female workers increased in other areas of the field. For example, in metals and manufacturing, the number of female operatives between 1940 and 1950 rose from 175,246 to 331,140 (Blackwelder 145). In 1949, there were twice as many women working in California than there were in 1940 (Striking Women). Through the evaluation of these statistics, many historians came to conclude that the war, for sure, had a

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