6.+Women’s+Role+in+Industry

Women’s Role In Industry By Justin B.      **Date of Birth:** July 23rd, 1904 **Main event taking place at this time:** World War II and the taking over of men’s jobs by women. **Occupation:** Riveter of aircraft doors and side panels **Background:** I married my husband, Walter Hartley, on April 9th, 1929. We began having trouble affording essentials once the Stock Market crashed, but my family was relatively lucky, since my husband was cautious and didn’t blow away all our money on stocks. During the 1920s, many women like me began rebelling against public expectations of them as women. During this period, women began driving cars, smoking, and even cutting their hair, as men were only previously expected to do. This period of rebellion also led to the rebellion against the expectation that only men worked, while women stayed at home and took care of the home and children (“Women in the Workplace” 5). This trend of women working with men, continued on into the 1930s, but it gradually slowed during the Great Depression. Women left their jobs during the Great Depression to allow men to support their families. So women, like myself, were somewhat forced to leave the workplace at this time because of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In order to revive the United States and fortify its defenses which were weakened ever so much during the Depression, FDR organized the New Deal which he put into effect in the early 1930s, at the beginning of his second term as president. Along with FDR’s New Deal, came several job restriction agencies, which sometimes even limited the number of people in each household that were allowed to work (“Women in the Workplace” 5). Because of these agencies, my husband told me that it was not necessary for me to go to work, that I could stay here and support our two children while he went off to work. Once FDR’s New Deal had taken affect, and the country was getting back on its feet, the United States began becoming more and more involved in World War II. Once the U.S. was fully involved, most men, including my husband and several of his friends from work, had been recruited and could not work here at home. Because of this necessary shortage of men in the workplace, women like me were forced to return to work, doing men’s jobs. Most of these new jobs that we were taking over involved defense of the nation, the manufacturing of essential war vehicles and tools. Even though many employers were unsure about the stamina of a woman in such a job, numerous employers sent other women I know to training schools in order to prepare them for jobs such as riveting the doors of aircrafts (Monk 195). This particular job seemed to be the most well-known job of the American woman during WWII. At first, many of the women that were hired were still discriminated against by employers and many African American women were never hired because they were considered to still be “janitors” (Danzer 565). “Once women proved they could operate welding torches or riveting guns as well as men, employers could not hire enough of them-especially since women earned only about 60 percent as much as men doing the same jobs” (Danzer 565). By doing such jobs as riveting and welding aircrafts and war vehicles, women in this time period earned the name “Rosie the Riveter” (“Women in the Workplace” 5). Many women not only worked in the defense industry, involving companies such as Rohr Aircraft, but they also drove buses and streetcars (Monk 196). Winona Espinosa was one of these women who tried a variety of what were formerly known as jobs that only men did. As Winona Espinosa said, “the war really created opportunities for women. It was the first time we [women] got a chance to show that we could do a lot of things that only men had done before” (Monk 196). Sadly, this time of “opportunity” did not last forever. Once the war had ended and men returned home, women were “expected to reenter traditional roles as mother, wife, and homemaker” (“Women in the Workplace” 5). Once men had returned home and took back their old jobs, the United States experienced a postwar economic boom. This boom actually angered women who had been obligated to return to jobs at home. Women were aggravated because they liked how the life at the workplace felt and wanted to work there like men and make a bigger difference (“Women in the Workplace” 5).
 * Name:    **   Mary Hartley

Above is a poster highlighting the jobs available to women during WWII when men were off at war and women were forced to work in the defense industry in order to make a living. < http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display.aspx?categoryid=4&entryid=295097&searchtext=women+industry&type=simple&option=all  > Works Cited Danzer, Gerald A., et al. __The Americans__. Boston: McDougal Littell. 2003. Monk, Linda R. __Ordinary Americans U.S. History Through the Eyes of Everyday People__. Alexandria, VA: Close Up Foundation. 1994. “Women in the Workplace.” __American History__. 2008. ABC-CLIO. 20 Oct. 2008 <[|http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com]>.