Pink Collar Jobs In The 1930's

“During the war about half of American women worked outside of their homes,”( Hughes 2). The number of working women rose from fourteen point six million in nineteen forty one to nineteen point four million in nineteen forty four. “Women were not just motivated by wages or patriotism; but buy the feeling of independence that they gained from the work,” (Hughes 2). Without women laborers the US economy would have never been able to produce military hardware to be successful in the war. Even though women played a huge role in the work force during the World War II, they also played an even bigger role in the war itself. Women played several different roles in the actual war. “A few of women’s roles in the actual war of World War II would be army nurses, spies, pilots and entertainers,” (Scott3). Women served as army nurses during World War 11, there were than seven thousand active nurses on duty when the United States entered the war. “Women also served as pilots, on September tenth nineteen forty two, Nancy Harkness Love, with the support of th U.S. Air Transport Command, organized twenty five women pilots into the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (W.A.F.S),” (Scott3). Women pilots were used to serve non- combat flights, to free the men for combat flights. “Women spies of the World WarII , they were often successful and unsuspected since people suspected women that women’s properly roles were solely domestic,” (Scott3). Lastly

In the 1900s women were not primarily seen in the work force. Women were at home cooking fresh meals mostly from the garden they grew themselves. They cleaned the house, and took care of the offspring. Women accommodated to their men. The men were the main source of income. The women typically didn’t see the money nor spend it. If the women were single they happened to work but it was little pesky job such as a waitress. In 1930s even during the great depression women were discouraged getting jobs. Until later on during the 1960s that’s when women started to stand up for their rights. This is when they passed a bill stating “Title VII of the Civil Rights Act bans discrimination in employment on the basis of race and sex. At the same time the Act establishes the Equal Employment

Prior to World War II, many women were unemployed, due to the Great Depression which had started a decade before. With men always getting preference for jobs, there were very few jobs left for women. Consequently, not only were many occupations were reserved for men, but men were also paid wages up to five times higher for the same task as women. Some states also barred married women from holding jobs. However during World War II, America produced at an efficiency which was higher than ever. This meant that the women had an increasing number of jobs. Jobs in the public sector opened up. Since 1939, women progressively changed the idea of patriarchy and the cliché thinking of an average woman in the United States to be a wife and mother.

Before the 20th century women stayed home took care for their kids and kept the house spotless they were forced to depend on there husbands for everything. Those years are over, it was time for us to become dependent not fanatically but in the way that we no longer had to be discriminated or seen as the weaker gender. We wanted to work in a well paid job and prove to those who had no faith in us that we are capable of doing what man can do. In this century we have changed the way they look at women with great effort they have succeeded. Women in the past have made an impact, today the number of jobs for women has increased especially in fields that are traditionally for men like in aviation. With all the issues in the

During World War II, the United States had a shortage of pilots, and the leaders decided to train women to fly military aircraft so male pilots could be released for combat duty overseas. The group of female pilots was called the Women Airforce Service Pilots, WASP for short. Young women between the ages of twenty-one to thirty-five, all civilian volunteers, flew almost every type of military aircraft but were not considered to be formally militarized. The program began in 1942, and was closed by 1944. But within this time frame, the female pilots flew sixty million miles in every military aircraft and thirty-eight died while serving their country as Army Air Corps arsenal. It wasn’t until many years later that the WASPS were finally given acknowledgement of their services and recognized as veterans of war.

Imagine being a women in the 1930s and being told what to do, what to wear, and how to act. Most women were employed by the 1930s, but they would either work for free or very low pay. Women would have the same job and do the same amount of work as the men in the workplace, but they would still only get paid half of what the men were paid. They would have to get a full education to be considered equal with the a man who has only been through elementary school. Many people saw women getting jobs as taking the paying jobs from the men. Women in the 1930s had limited rights, were told to be proper, and could not live their lives as they wanted to.

In addition to women taking over jobs in industrialization, women also began to take jobs in the military. Approximately 350,000 American women joined the military during World War II. Women worked as nurses, drove trucks, repaired airplanes, and performed clerical work to free men from combat. Simultaneously, women also joined the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs). These women flew planes from factories to military bases. Records show that a lot of these women died during combat or captured as prisoners, while flying planes. Women demonstrated courage solely by flying

Most of us know of the famous poster of Rosie the Riveter. She made women all over the world think that they could be just like her. She was sexy and strong and had the words “We Can Do It!”, which were very empowering words. Rosie the Riveter was just one of many advertisements that were used during the war to get women to join the workforce. Advertising for women to get a war job was so common. Good lighting and unique posing, along with sexiness to intrigue women to join the work force was just one technique used. The pictures showed women working on planes, engines and other machinery. The pictures however were very misleading. They were of women wearing makeup, and jewelry and with their hair worn loosely so that it could get caught in machinery. These pictures were very misleading of the real work that women would be doing.[2] As part of recruiting efforts posters were put everywhere, however none of them portrayed women of color. They all were of young, beautiful, white women. The reason they say for white women is because they targeted women’s magazines that white women would read and news papers. They also made it seem like it was the woman’s patriotic duty to go to work.[3] Most people would think that something like marketing is a new thing however these slogans and posters are proof that they knew what to say to pull women in to the workforce. Some of the posters asked women to get

While applying to an ad to work at NASA, this woman was the only one out of the 1,000 people that replied to the ad that had the opportunity to talk to Kraft, the “head” of NASA. It was a tremendous deal to talk to the boss guy . Right then and there she knew she made it into NASA to be an astronaut.( Sally Ride taking off ) It was the changing point of her career and other women’s careers that she helped influence. "I was so dazzled to be on the crew and go into space I remembered very little of what he said," Sally Ride from Time magazine. This quote entities that Ride was exceptionally enthusiastic to be able to join NASA as a woman. The former astronaut was determined to land where she expected, if not more. Ride defied the odds of being a woman and being intelligent at the same time.

The number of workingwomen increased by 25%. Perhaps the most iconic figure of the 1920s, the flapper became the symbol of a youth movement that championed new ideas about womanhood and appropriate female behavior. After the Great War, young women were unwilling to return to traditional female roles. Unfortunately, great numbers of married women still did not hold jobs, and roughly 10% of them worked outside of their homes. Among single women, there was a large increase in employment during this era. Some of the occupations that had always been weighted towards women were teaching, social workers, nurses, and librarians. Women who were working-class could find textile mills to be one example of factory where jobs could be found. On the farm, women helped out in a countless amount of ways, as they traditionally had.

World War II was the catalyst that changed the opportunities available to women and eventually the way they were regarded as a viable workforce. Suddenly women throughout the United States were pushing themselves to their limits to support the war effort. Women were fulfilling jobs and responsibilities that many previously believed to be impossible for their gender. Opportunities were opened in steel plants, ammunition factories, and even the United States military. As the war progressed the number of male workers declined dramatically. Society had no choice but to turn to the mothers, sisters, and daughters of our nation for help. The results for each woman varied

     In 1943 there was a U.S. male pilot shortage. In August, the WASPS (Women Airforce Service Pilots), were formed to aid the shortage. For the most part the WASPS weren’t used for actually fighting. They were used mainly used for ferrying bomber and fighter planes from factories to airbases. Even in the Airforce, while helping the men, women were still antagonized by the men. The WASPS lasted only for one year and in 1944, when the male pilot shortage ended, a proposal to make the WASPS a part of the Airforce was submitted. The

In 1942 the Women’s Army Corps was introduced. These women worked in more than 200 non- combatant jobs stateside and also every part of the war. They served not only as common nurses but also “within the ranks of the United States Army.” There was also the Women’s Army Corps introduced in 1942. This group of 1,100 women was asked to join and fly military aircraft, due to the shortage of pilots. Their job was to fly from factories to military bases and also different take off points around the country. Even though during their enlistment the WASP were supposed to become part of the military, after a couple years the program was cancelled. The last group the, Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, was already established. After being absent for twenty-three years, they had to be reactivated because of WW2. While a large portion of these women did the job of secretarial and clerical they had other jobs they did. Thousands of WAVES performed duties in aviation, medical professions, communication, intelligence, science and technology. These military jobs and the other non-traditional jobs the women participated in made them almost like a ghost in their home front.

Prior to World War II, employers and the government held that there were jobs appropriate for women and jobs which were inappropriate because women were not capable of fulfilling the tasks involved in such work. As we

Despite the different time periods, there are several similarities in how both World War I and World War II impacted women in the workplace. At the start of each war, millions of young men left their jobs, homes, and families to serve their country in the war, leaving thousands of employment positions needing to be filled. However, employers did not immediately turn to women to fill those roles. Not only were employers hesitant to hire them until it was absolutely necessary, but male workers did not quite know how to handle women as their new coworkers. According to Carrie Brown, “men disliked having their domain invaded by women. They didn’t know how to treat women in the workplace, and they didn’t want to learn” (127). Men accused women workers of stealing jobs from men, whose rightful place was in the workforce, and many even held the belief that women were lowering the wages earned. Despite these discriminations, employers did eventually hire women, and as a result, women had the opportunity to complete jobs that were normally done by men. Once women were able to overcome the