When the United States entered World War II after the 1941 attacks on Pearl Harbor, men shipped overseas by the millions to serve in the war. This left many of the civilian and military jobs on the home front unfilled—and that's when women stepped in.
Before the war, some women worked in traditionally female-dominated positions, such as secretaries, store clerks and receptionists, but were otherwise rarely seen in the work force. With the labor force's high war-time demands, an estimated six million women started working in fields previously closed to them.
American Women in World War II
A U.S. government ad campaign to encourage women to enter the workforce featured a fictional icon "Rosie the Riveter," with the words, "We Can Do It!" U.S. women answered the call. By 1945, nearly one out of four married women was working outside the home.
Women labored in construction, drove trucks, cut lumber and worked on farms. They worked in factories, building munitions, planes, trains and ships. Nearly 350,000 American women also served in uniform, through clerical jobs, nursing and as part of the Women's Air Force Service Pilots (WASP), the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, the Navy Women’s Reserve (WAVES), the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve, the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve (SPARS), the Army Nurses Corps and the Navy Nurse Corps.
Since there was a war to cover—and fewer available men to cover it—the media world also presented opportunities to women as journalists, photographers, and broadcasters. Through the course of the war, the overall share of women in the U.S. workforce jumped from 27 to 37 percent.
While women's contributions during the war were essential—they weren't always treated fairly. Women workers often faced discrimination and harassment in the workplace, and they rarely took home more than half of what their male counterparts earned.
The call for working women was intended to only apply during the war. At the war’s end, even though many women wanted to keep their jobs, many were forced out by men returning home. Some women left their posts with new skills and confidence, while others sought ways to remain. Those who did were often demoted.
Still, the wartime shift into the workplace had offered women the opportunity to prove their capabilities. A newly empowered league of women then persisted in a long, slow struggle for equal job opportunities and pay.
A woman operating a hand drill while working on a "Vengeance" dive bomber, in Nashville, Tennessee.
A woman works on an airplane motor at the North American Aviation, Inc., plant in Inglewood, California.
A woman worker tightens the cowling for one of the motors of a B-25 bomber being assembled in the engine department of the Inglewood plant.
A group of women, with no previous industrial experience, are reconditioning used spark plugs in a converted Buick plant to produce airplane engines in Melrose Park, Illinois, 1942.
Two women workers are shown capping and inspecting tubing which goes into the manufacture of the "Vengeance" (A-31) dive bomber made at Vultee's Nashville division, Tennessee. The "Vengeance" was originally designed for the French and later adopted by the U.S. Air Force. It carried a crew of two men and was equipped with six machine guns of varying calibers.
A riveter sitting on huge piece of machinery during WWII, perfectly illustrating the Rosie the Riveter-type, at Lockheed Aircraft Corp.
Women workers at the Douglas Aircraft Company install fixtures and assemblies to a tail fuselage section of a B-17F bomber, better known as the "Flying Fortress." The high altitude heavy bomber was built to carry a crew of seven to nine men, and carried armament sufficient to defend itself on daylight missions.
Women at work on C-47 Douglas cargo transport at the Douglas Aircraft Company in Long Beach, California
A group of Black women welders kneel in coveralls and hold tools as they prepare to work on SS 'George Washington Carver,' Richmond, California, 1943.
Marcella Hart, mother of three children, works as a wiper at the at the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad roundhouse in Clinton, Iowa. She wears the iconic red bandana in "Rosie the Riveter" fashion.
A woman prepares for jobs in the Army or in industry in a camouflage class at New York University. This model has been camouflaged and photographed and she is correcting oversights detected in the camouflaging of the model defense plant.
Irma Lee McElroy, formerly an office worker, took a position at the Naval Air Base in Corpus Christi, Texas during the war. Her position was a civil service employee, and here she is seen painting the American insignia on airplane wings.
Mary Saverick stitches harnesses at the Pioneer Parachute Company Mills, in Manchester, Connecticut.
Eloise J. Ellis was appointed by civil service to be senior supervisor in the Assembly and Repairs Department at the Naval Air Base in Corpus Christi, Texas. She is said to have boosted morale in her department by arranging suitable living conditions for out-of-state women employees and by helping them with their personal problems.
Two Navy wives, Eva Herzberg and Elve Burnham, entered war work after their husbands joined the service. In a Glenview, Illinois, they assemble bands for blood transfusion bottles at Baxter Laboratories.
1 / 15: Library of Congress
HISTORY Vault: Women's History
Stream acclaimed women's history documentaries in HISTORY Vault.
Get HISTORY’s most fascinating stories delivered to your inbox three times a week.
By submitting your information, you agree to receive emails from HISTORY and A+E Networks. You can opt out at any time. You must be 16 years or older and a resident of the United States.
