By Jim McAllister

With November being the month that contains Veteran's Day, I believe it is appropriate to honor another group of individuals that were instrumental in the war efforts of this country during World War II: the women of America.

World War II had broken out in Europe by 1939. In the same year, the Depression was still raging in the United States and we would not be involved in the war until December 7,1941 with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. At this time it was thought that the woman's place was in the home and her duties included housekeeping chores like cleaning, doing laundry, and taking care of the kids. This was about to change with the U. S. involvement in World War II; a change that was never going to be fully reversed to the so called "old days".

The war effort was being fought on two fronts which required a tremendous use of manpower for the military forces. The men who did not go into the military were deferred because of war involved employment, physical disabilities, age, or various other reasons. Somebody had to pick up the slack in the American workforce so the call went out to that large untapped source: the American woman.

At first there was some resistance to women flocking into the workforce but by 1944 there were 19 million women working in the war industry. There were various forms of propaganda issued to justify the use of women in these jobs, one of which, as mentioned by Leila Rupp in her book, "Mobilizing Women For War", was that the situation was only temporary and that "allowed the public to accept the participation of women in unusual jobs without challenging the basic belief about women's roles."

This does not mean that women were welcomed into industry with open arms and afforded the same rights and privileges of their male counterparts. Many companies still would not hire them and those that were hired were often given inferior jobs and pay. The romantic memory of "Rosie the Riveter" being accepted as "one of the guys" wasn't always the case although many women did do more important and laborious work as the war progressed. Those who didn't like women in important roles had to face the law of supply and demand. After all, who else was going to do these jobs?

So, the U. S. was in a full scale war. The men were filling the tanks and the trenches and the women took their places in the factories turning out war goods. It all sounds very simple except for one thing: who was minding the house and kids while the women were working 48 hours per week in the plants? Answer: the women were doing that too.

I'll tell ya, you had to be tough to be a woman in the U. S. during World War II. Here is an example of the daily routine for many women in that 1941-1945 era: For starters, many women had to work at night in order to balance a home and family with a job as described by Doris Weatherford in her book "American Women and World War II". These women would get off work in time to get home and see their kids off to school. They would grab a quick breakfast, then clean up the kitchen. Then it was off to bed about 10:00 a. m. to sleep for an hour and a half until the kids came home for lunch. After cleaning up that mess it was back to bed and sleep a couple more hours until about 3:00 when the kids got out of school. She would then do laundry if there was time and cook dinner with the limited amount of war rationed supplies available. The family would then eat supper when her husband got home about 6:00 (if he worked in a war related industry and was not fighting). After supper she would clean the kitchen (again!), then take another nap before getting up and going to work at about 10:00 p.m. and start the cycle again. Husbands rarely helped in the chores as this was considered "woman's work". Thus, the working housewife averaged about 5 to 6 irregular hours of sleep per day.

As World War II ended in 1945, the reaction of working women was mixed. For some, it was wonderful to leave their hectic schedule and return to the home full time again. Some wanted to continue work but didn't because it was the assumption of society that they should leave the workforce now that they weren't as necessary as before. Then there were those who enjoyed the new independence they had found through their wartime jobs and wanted to continue with the income they were used to even though they faced demotions and pay cuts in the post war era. One thing was certain: World War II jobs had given women confidence in themselves that they had never known before and laid the groundwork for the advancement and education of women in the workforce today. Hats off and a salute to Rosie the Riveter and the women of World War II!