The Woman Airforce Service Pilots (WASP)

One of the most important roles that women played, were the increasing large amount of female soldiers fighting in the war. These roles gave women the right to work and serve in armed forces. The jobs that women took part in during this time period made a huge difference in the war, and in turn, WW2 helped expand women’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 1944-1945, thousands of women joined the German army. During World War II, more and more girls joined the Luftwaffe under German’s control (“The Role of Women in Nazi Germany”). They replaced men, who were transferring to the Army to bear arms instead of driving planes against the advancing Allied forces. In the Luftwaffe, women operated

Prior to WWI, women were only allowed to be a military nurse but even then, they weren 't actually enlisted. They were taking care of the men during the war and wasn’t given no type of recognition for doing so. Women 's roles

Women had different perspectives during World War 2. Many served in different branches of armed forces. Some labored in war productions plants. Most women stayed at home and had other responsibilities to raise children, balance check books, and some labored in war-related office jobs, while the men went to war. In addition to factory work and other front jobs about 350,000 women joined the Armed services, serving at home and abroad. “Rosie the Riveter,” later became a popular propaganda for women. While women worked in a variety of positions closed to them the industry saw the greatest increase in female’s workers. More than 310,000 women worked in the U.S. aircraft industry in 1943,

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.

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

Amid WW2, there was an extreme deficiency of pilots but leaders came up with an idea to fill in the gap and it was to train woman. Jaclyn Cochran was the most prominent female American aviator and she thought of an idea to for a women's pilot corp. In 1943, she established the Women's Air Force Service Pilot, also known as WASP, and she gathered twenty-four American women to fly for the British Air Transport. She proved persuasive when she convinced Chief of the Army Air Forces, Hap Arnold, to create an American flight training program for women to aid in the war effort. Later on as the news spread more than twenty-five thousand women enrolled but the requirements were and on only eighteen hundred of them where admitted. Jaclyn Cochran was then appointed as the director of the program.

Women served an important role in WWII. They not only took the challenge and stepped up to take the places of the men off fighting in the war to work in factories, but they also fought side by side with those risking their lives and fighting for their country. They were needed everywhere during the war. There were an unbelievable amount of job opportunities for women during the war and many supported the brave acts of voluntary enlistment. “‘A woman’s place is in the home’ was an old adage, but it still held true at the start of World War II. Even though millions of women worked, home and family we considered the focus of their lives” says Brenda Ralf Lewis. Without the help of those women who were brave enough to

     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

attempts to keep them from seeing combat. In addition to the pilots being women the support

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.

During the course of history our society has faced, and continues to face, various forms of discrimination based on sex, race, religion, age, and the like. Obviously, times have changed since the WASPS era, and they continue to change in order to adapt to the growing diversity of our society. Unfortunately, for the women serving our country as members of the WASPS, I wish their recognition would have come at a more opportune time, so as to coincide with their male colleagues. However, I don’t think that the military intentionally intended to tarnish the service of these women by failing to recognize them. Social roles for men and women were considerably different during the time of World War II, and the formation of the WASPS was a drastic departure from the norm.

After 1917, when women were allowed to join the military, the most popular job was nursing. 33,000 women served as nurses during the last two years of World War One, for the first time women were officially considered apart of America’s military (Time Line: Women in the U.S. Military). The more years that passed with women involved in the military, the more respect they gained in the

116) - WASP created opportunities for women that had never previously existed (p. 112) - Women’s success at flying aircrafts “marked a pivotal step towards breaking the existing gender barrier” (p. 112) - “From the outset male pilots resented women’s presence in a traditionally male military setting” (p. 1113-4) - “The WASP were routinely assigned inferior planes that were later found to have been improperly maintained” (p. 114) - discrimination against WASP at every level of military service, women were only paid 2/3 of what men were for doing identical tasks (p. 114) Stewart - WAAC (Women’s Army Auxiliary Corp) was 1st chance for women to serve in army, given full army status in 1943 as WAC (p. 28) - Needs of the war were so great that women’s traditional social roles were ignored (p. 30) - Military women paid well for the time period and given benefits if they became pregnant (p. 32) - The 1940’s brought more opportunities to women than ever before (p. 26) Bruley -Women given equal opportunities (p. 223) - Women joined workforce as a break from the ordinary to help the war (p. 220) - Unconscious decision to cross into male-dominated roles (p. 221) - Seized these new opportunities to bring about change (p. 230) Scott - Women born in the 1920’s found new doors open to them where they once would have encountered brick walls (p. 526) -Even women not directly involved in the war were changing mentally by being challenged to