(The war & the economy, 1941-1945) Women & the war effort Flashcards
By the end of the war, how many women were employed?
Almost 60%
How many women entered the workforce in 1944 alone?
6.5 million
How did many women see the new opportunity to work outside the home to support the war effort?
An opportunity to show their ability to be independent from men.
Give evidence to support women having to juggle family responsibilities with working outside of the home.
Women working in Detroit defence factories lost 100,000 hours per month to deal with laundry.
What is evidence of home front civil efforts?
2
Women’s Land Army
Rationing
What was the Communities Facilities Act of 1941?
Childcare for women in defence factories - but had limited effect.
What was the name of the act that supported childcare for women in defence factories?
Communities Facilities Act of 1941
By 1944, what % of women were working?
43%
What did the Director of the Women’s Bureau report in january 1942?
2.8 million women were involved in war work.
How many black women were employed in war-related industries by 1945?
What is this in spite of?
300,000
Racial and gender prejudice
What shows that many women continued in traditional roles?
The population increased by 6.5 million.
What were 1940-1945 ‘furlough’ babies the result of?
Servicemen being on home leave and reunited with wives.
How did women face hardship in this time?
2
Many moved to live near husbands on military bases, facing dislocation from family & cramped conditions.
Prejudice & lower pay within workforce.
What is significant about the Fair Employment and Practices Commission (1941)?
(2)
Aimed to prevent discrimination but there was little progress in attempts to enforce equal pay.
Unions were reluctant to get involved in struggle for equal pay as when the war ended, men and women would return to pre-war life.
What happened to women who held political positions during WW2?
They lost their positions and became largely dismissed.
