Women volunteer organization such as the USO helped bring the feeling of home to the soldiers while they were away. After a while it was pretty obvious that women were needed to perform military jobs, like becoming nurses.
There was an increased demand in military weapons during World War II. Since most of the men were off fighting, factories needed women to step in and build the weapons themselves. Rosie was made up to help encourage women to join the work place during the war. Although Rosie became an icon to women, many women preferred to stay at home.
Before the war, women didn't have many choices to where they worked. Their choices were what they called "suitable" for women such as librarians and secretaries. But thanks to the war women could come out and prove themselves. The Campagin for Rosie the Riveter showed that women could now do men's jobs. The campagin's main foucus was to show patriotic duty. Through this campagin women felt honored to work on the home front, and it helped them know that they had a contribution to the war efforts. To learn more go here.
Women Pilots
"Let us acknowledge the measure of their sacrifice by honoring them as brave women, and by honoring them as women who served without thought of glory which we accord to heroes of battle. The service pilot faces the risk of death without the emotional inspiration of combat. Men who battle in the sky have the grim, triumphant knowledge that their bombs and bullets are destroying the enemy, and their courage is sustained by the emotions of conflict. These women have given their lives in the performance of arduous and exacting duties without being able to see and feel the final results of their work under the quickening influence of aerial action. They have demonstrated a courage which is sustained not by the fevers of combat, but the steady heartbeat of faith—a faith in the rightness of our cause, and a faith in the importance of their work to the men who do go into combat. Let us pay tribute to these women by honoring their memory . . . Let us treasure their memory as women whose sacrifice has brought honor not only to their country,but also to their organization."
During the war, women in the WASP (Women Airforce Serivce Pilots) were to ferry planes from manufacturing plants to military bases. Jackie Cochran and Nancy Harkness Love proposed that the Air Force let WASP join but they were denied. WASP pilots had to have a pilot's licence and a certain amout of training time. The women that participated and graduated in to WASP were known to have trained "The Army Way".
To learn more click here.
Nurses
World War II brought the nurses to work the closest they had on the front lines than they ever had. Over fifty nine thousand joined the Army Nurse Corps. These nurses served everywhere, from field hospitals, evacuation hospitals, on train hosptials and ship hosptials. The skills that these nurses had saved alot of lives, which made the death rate of World War II low. Only four percent of American soliders died. For more information go here.
"There is one front and one battle where everyone in the United States—every man, woman, and child—is in action, and will be privileged to remain in action throughout this war. That front is right here at home, in our daily lives, and in our daily tasks."– President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 28 April 1942
The president was right when he said this. Many people including women felt the war at home, in there own country. I think that, that is what gave these nurses the drive to perform well. They didn't want any of the american soliders to die.
Quiz Questions
1. What did Rosie the Riveter encourage women to do?
2. What did the 59,000 women join?
3. Before the war what kind of jobs did women had?
4.What are two of places where nurses served?
5. What two women propsed the idea to have WASP join the Air Force?
