Until December 7, 1941 the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the United States were isolationist who didn't believe in getting involved in World War II. Pearl Harbor completely changed this mindset, finally giving Franklin Roosevelt his declaration of war on Germany he had been wanting for years. Now with the onset of war the United States had to catch up if they wanted to help the Allies win the war. They were behind in all military aspects, especially building an army. With most of the men enlisting and joining the Armed Forces, the National Service Act #2 in December 1941, made the 'conscription' of women legal. At first only single women ages 20 through 30 were called up, but with war roaring by mid-1943 almost 90% of single women and 80% of married women were employed in essential work for the war effort globally.
With war waging fathers went to join the Armed Forces or were sent away to do "vital civilian work", forcing mothers to run the home alone and "get used to going out to work". From 1940-1945 the female percentage of the United States workforce increased from 27-37 percent, and by 1945 about 25% of married women worked outside the home. During World War II more than 6 million women took up jobs outside the home, "Though women who entered the workforce during WWII were crucial to the war effort, their pay continued to lag far behind their male counterparts: Female workers rarely earned more than 50% of male wages." Women worked just as hard as the men in the workforce and many of them were single mothers as well, with their husbands in the army. Because of this women came to know flexible working hours, nurseries, and other arrangements to accommodate to the needs of working mothers.
Women made up roughly 1/3 of the total workforce in the metal and chemical industries, as well as in the ship-building and vehicle manufactories. "Rosie the Riveter" was the star for the governments campaign to recruit women workers for the munitions industry. 350,000 women joined the Armed Services, and in May 1942 Congress instituted the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps, later being upgraded to the Women's Army Corps who gained full military status. WACs worked in 200 non-combat jobs, and by 1945 there were over 100,000 WACs and over 6000 female officers. But above all of the military divisions, the aviation industry saw the greatest increase in female workers. More than 310,000 women worked in the United States aircraft industry, and in 1943 65% of the industry's total workforce were women. Women's Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, were the first women to fly American military aircraft and there were over 1000 of them.
Besides women assimilating into the workforce another major change for women during WWII was their fashion. Women's fashion was changed by the style of the military outfits, influencing women to often wear trousers or one-piece siren suits. Besides the influence the military attire had on the women, headgear also became more popular because it was practical for women in the workforce to keep their hair out of their way while they were working. Another fashion statement that changed because of the war were accessories, women adopted large handbags to carry all their family's different ration books, the rationing system being something the United States government developed to alleviate the pressure of the inflation happening in the country. Women also adopted the "Victory Roll" a hairstyle in which they rolled their hair up very tightly, fixed it in place, then topped it off with a swept-up curl.
Women earned 50% as much as a male did for the same job which we still see happening today just on a less intense scale. Why do you think that is considering we have fought so hard for gender equality and women's rights have come a long way? Considering they changed their accessories, hairstyles, and clothes for the war they were dedicated to being productive and hardworking.
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