Women in World War 2

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Background Information
Chapter 2: Women of Significance
Chapter 3: The Codes They Cracked
Chapter 4: The Other Jobs Women Had
Chapter 5: Stats and Other Numbers
Chapter 6: Glossary

Introduction

World War II had a tremendous effect on the world. It was a horrific time, full of tragedy and loss. The US military alone, suffered over 400,000 dead. Worldwide, an estimated 40 - 50 million people perished. However, some good did come of it. Women started working and gaining more respect. Between 1940 and 1945 five million women entered the workforce, filling the gaps created by departing soldiers. These chapters will walk you through the importance of women in WWII, how they helped, their roles, and how it helped women get to the point of respect they have today. So, let’s dive into WWII.

This map shows where WWII was mainly fought.

Chapter 1: Background Information

September 1st, 1939, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany. This would become known as WWll. Before the war, a woman would have little to no respect professionally. They most often would not work outside of their homes; they would get married and work in the household ~ cooking, cleaning, caring for the children, etc. If they did work outside of the home (though it was very uncommon at the time) they would, at most, be paid less than half of what men earned for a comparable position. Luckily, this war would change much of that.

Chapter 2: Women of Significance

One person of high significance is Rosie the Riveter. “Rosie the Riveter was the star of a campaign aimed at recruiting female workers for defense industries during World War II”. Rosie the Riveter was featured on a poster in overalls, her hair tied back and flexing her muscles with the saying “We Can Do It!”, inspiring women to come work in factories to support the men fighting in the war. The “Rosie Campaign'' was a huge success! Rosie became the most well known image for working women, and hundreds of thousands joined the workforce at this time. Inspiration for the poster was believed to be either Geraldine Hoff Doyle, or Rose Will Monroe. Both Geraldine and Rose were factory workers. Either could be the inspiration for the famous Rosie, who do you think it is?
Ann White also had a huge role in this movement ~ she was a code breaker! How did Ann White get here? In November of 1941, Ann got an odd letter from an astronomy professor. This letter contained 2 questions; “Do you like crossword puzzles?” and “Are you engaged to be married?”. The same 2 questions were sent to thousands of women. Around 10,000 women contributed to the code breaking attempts.

This image shows some women code breakers in WWII.

Chapter 3: The Codes They Cracked

What is a code breaker? A code breaker is a person who cracks codes to benefit themselves or whom/what they are serving. A code is a system of words & numbers used for secrecy. Code breakers had the saying “Loose lips sink ships”, meaning you have to keep your mouth SHUT. You could not talk about the secret messages, or anything you decoded. This quote also shows that the government was very strict, and had high stakes for the code breakers.
To be a code breaker, it was required to have a strong understanding of math, a good memory, patience, and persistence. These women were the key to winning the war. In fact, it was said by experts that the war would have lasted 2 more years if not for them. Working in a factory and breaking codes were not the only jobs women could have. There were many other jobs on the horizon.

Chapter 4: The Other Jobs Women Had

Women held many different jobs during WWll. One of the very important roles women had, according to the text, was in aviation. “Women during World War ll worked in a variety of positions previously closed to them, the aviation industry saw the greatest increase in female workers.” Not only were women code breakers or factory workers, they could be an engineer, driver, plumber, nurse, or volunteer! They made ships, tanks, munitions, and lots more.

In the UK, women were drafted into what they called the Land Army. The Land Army recruited women to look after animals, grow crops, and garden. In Great Britain, they and most other women worked 48-50 hours per week, even in winter! However, they were only paid 1.56 pounds a week ($2.04)! In 1944, it was raised to 2.87 Pounds ($3.74). A memorial to the Land Army is in Whitehall, is made of bronze, and shows all of the uniforms and working clothes women wore during the war.

This image shows some of the numbers and statistics of WWII.

Chapter 5: Stats and Numbers

Tons of numbers were involved in WWll. Numbers of troops and armies, numbers of tanks and planes, numbers of rifles and bullets… Numbers were on the news every night. Numbers informing people of how many were injured, killed, missing, or captured on the battlefield. There were reports with the numbers of how many bombs were dropped, missiles were launched, etc. The numbers not only shared information, but unfortunately, often shared fear. The families of those who were captured or missing, and the families of those whose loved ones were in places that were attacked, waited for that dreaded letter or knock on the door. The worst was when your family member had died, and you didn’t get to say goodbye. That was the horror those numbers delivered.

The silver lining was what those numbers meant for women. Sadly, many young soldiers never came home, but those jobs were kept by women, who wouldn’t have been hired in the position if more men were available. Women were telephone operators, factory workers, plumbers, ambulance drivers, and engineers. Nearly all of these positions were denied to them before the war.