Duty vs. Decision - The Women Behind WWII

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, the United States knew that their chapter in this war had begun. What we didn’t know was the profound changed wouldn’t all be made thousands of miles away. In fact, it was happening right under our noses. While men were off in distant lands, women all over the nation began filling jobs and fulfilling the duties that had so long been considered men’s work.

It began with a sense of duty. Government propaganda was everywhere, encouraging women to join the work force. The government had a very interesting way of trying to appeal to the general female public - Not only should they do it to help their government an d help to support the war efforts, but they should do it for their husbands, boyfriends and brothe rs, because it was what they would want. The government was essentially sending these ladies the message that if you want to make your significant other (or other important male figure in their life) you will get a job. They were doing all kinds of work, from making the nosecones of fighter planes, to working and tilling the fields.

These women would forever be recognized with Rosie the Riveter, the image of the strong but also beautiful woman (even with her defined somewhat harsh cheekbones) who worked hard to bring her men home. To this day, she represents a period in history where women were no longer necessarily associated with being beautiful and reserved, but instead headstrong and not afraid to get dirty in order to help their country.

Once these women realized how important their contributions would be to the war effort, it became clear that getting a war job was a ‘cool thing’ to do. As such, there even fashion adds involving women in the workplace. These pictures would show models (nails painted, wearing jewelry and make-up etc.) doing jobs that every day women were doing. The idea that you could work and look glamorous was one of the many tactics the government used to make the workforce more appealing. Below are four images, the two black and white images show two real women working in the assembly lines, and the color photographs are really fashion models. It was pictures like this that made the women think that getting their hands dirty was more 'beautiful' than it had ever been before.

In fact, this beautiful aspect of the workforce was being seen overseas as well. It was advertised like the women who worked were the army’s ‘real pin-up girls,’ even though the reality was that women like Betty Grabble would beat out a sweat-covered woman from home any day.

While most women found their calling in the work force, a select few discovered they had the potential to be part of a remixed All-American game – baseball. While the game experienced a lot of negativity at first, due to all the critics who said that it was un-lady like of women to participate in such a rough sport, eventually it was a hit. These women attracted crowds like the American and National leagues had before the war began. These games not only proved to be a source of entertainment, but they also showed the world that women, too, could participate in sports. This era is still being talked about in present day - with the creation of the movie A League of Their Own (1992) talked about the struggles these women faced, but how the end result was well worth the initial criticism.

This war presented itself as an opportunity for women to not only help their country, but also to step out of stereotypes. For many years, they had been forced to live the exact same way; cook, clean and take care of the family. Now, they had had a chance to show the world that they are more than just housewife material. When the war ended, women were told that it was ‘the patriotic thing to do,’ by giving up their jobs so that returning vets could have work. Many people thought that the women would just go back to exactly how it had been before, and in some respects it was. However, the lasting importance of this era was the understanding that women were clearly capable of doing men. The impact may have not been immediately apparent, but as we see in present day culture, women are working their way up the corporate ladders, holding positions of equal or even greater importance to men in the work force.