Part one : Introduction : The women behind the men behind the gun : working women in World War II. Working women in the early twentieth century -- Rosie the Riveter and the propaganda campaign -- The women war workers of World War II -- Rosie and her sisters : defense industry jobs -- Fighting race discrimination -- Fighting sex discrimination : union women and the U.S. Women's Bureau -- Challenges for working women : factory life and the second shift -- Women in the armed services -- The end of the war and beyond -- Part two : The documents. 1 : Propaganda : the campaign to recruit womanpower. Office fo War Information, Women in the war ...for the final push to victory, 1943 ; LIFE Magazine, Cover featuring a woman steel worker, August 9, 1943 ; Phyllis Duganne, When the boys come home, July 17, 1943 ; Woodbury facial soap advertisement depicting femininity and romance for a Boeing plant worker, 1943 ; Norge household appliances advertisemnet "working for today ...planing for tomorrow," 1944 ; Exhibitor's sales guide for the film women at arms, 1942 ; Anna M. Rosenberg, Womanpower and the war, April 1943 -- 2 : The words and worlds of women defense workers. Matilda Foster, Oral history account of shipyard work, 2005 ; Marian Sousa, Oral history account of work at the Kaiser shipyards, 2002 ; Maggie Gee, Oral history account of work at shipyard and of being a WASP, 2003 ; Margarita Salazar McSweyn, Oral history account of work at a Lockheed plant, 1980 ; Faith Traversie, oral history account of shipyard work, 2005 ; Polly Crow, A defense worker's letters to her husband, June 12, 1944, and January 30, 1945 ; Long Beach Airview News, Mother of seven builds B-17s; has super attendance mark, July 13, 1943 ; Photograph of aircraft workers, 1944 ; Mrs. T.H. Wood, Letter to Eleanor Roosevelt about racial discrimination in the Kingsbury Ordnance Plant, July 31, 1942 ; Laura Washington Cyrus, Affidavit regarding racial discrimination, June 5, 1942 -- 3 : Union women. United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, Minutes of the "Women to Win the War Conference," December 13, 1942 ; Proceedings of the Seventh Convention of the United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, 1942 ; Proceedings of the Eighth International Convention of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, 1942 ; Augusta Chronicle, Rosie the Riveter wants man's pay, lady's respect, December 11, 1944 ; Ammunition, Cover, Women Work/Women Vote, August 1944 ; Ammunition, And we say -- , August 1944 -- Ammunition, You have only one life to live, August 1944 ; Ammunition, What do you care about children? August 1944 ; Report of the UAW-CIO's Women's Conference, December 1944 ; Lillian Hatcher, Oral history account of a UAW activist, 1978-1979 -- 4 : The second shift. Nell Giles, Gas ration vital to factory worker, 1942 ; Heinz Ketchup ad promising help with rationing, 1942 ; Jane Lynott Carroll, Raising a baby on shifts, October 1942 ; Marye Stumph, Oral history account of an aviation worker's solution to childcare, 1982 ; Raymong Clapper, Home chores bothering war workers, September 30, 1943 ; Jane Eads, Drafting of fathers spurs federal child care program, October 17, 1943 ; Survey midmonthly, Kaier's children, December 1944 -- 5 : Women in uniform. Saturday Eening Post, Women of two wars, May 29, 1943 ; Vic Herman, "Winnie the WAC" cartoon, 1945 ; Charity Adams Earley, One woman's army : a black officer remembers the WAC, 1989 ; Baltimore Afro-American, Four WACs sentenced to hard labor after Devens strike, March 24, 1945 ; Concepción Escobedo, Oral history account of a Hispanic WAC, 2003 ; San Antonio Express, Fighting man's widow joins Juarez Squadron, March 17, 1944 ; Heart Mountain Sentinel, detachment of Nisei WACs assigned to duty at Snellling, November 25, 1944 ; Shamokin News-Dispatch, Report about WAACs spiked by Col. Hobby: refutes story that contraceptives will be issued to auxiliary members, June 9, 1943 ; Report of investigation of WAC Lieutenant for homosexuality, July 1944 ; Elizabeth R. Pollock, Letters from a WAAC private to her family, 1943 ; Miriam E. Stehlik Drahos, Letter describing service in North Africa, 1943 ; Anna K. Schelper, Letter describing nursing in the Philippines, March 8, 1945 ; Helen Snapp, Oral history of a WASP, March 14, 2009 -- 6. The end of the war and beyond. Catherine Hambley, Asserts women be given chance in postwar era, March 15, 1945 ; Marjorie McKenzie, Pursuit of democracy, September 8, 1945 ; Barbara Woollcott, We want our jobs, March 4, 1945 ; Bernice Morgan, Women war workers shun domesticity, August 19, 1945 ; Seattle Daily Times, Most women workers plan to give up jobs after war, December 25, 1944 ; Elizabeth Janeway, Meet a demobilized housewife, November 1945 ; Beatrice Berg, When GI girls return, April 22, 1945 ; Therese Benedek, Marital breakers ahead? September 1945 ; New York Times, UAW women workers' protest of layoffs at Ford Motor Company, November 8, 1945 ; Dorothy Haener, Oral history account on becoming a union activist and feminist, 1978 ; Betty Friedan, UE fights for women workers, June 1952 -- Appendixes. A chronology of American working women and the World War II era (1890-1950) -- Questions fo reconsideration -- Selected bibliography.
Summary:
"American Working Women in World War II introduces students to American women's experiences in defense work during World War II, focusing on the challenges they faced in male-dominated factories and the military, as well as their struggle to juggle work with expectations at home. An introductory essay and a rich array of primary sources--including firsthand accounts of women from diverse backgrounds, cartoons, photographs, and magazine articles--arranged in thematic chapters provides a lens through which to examine the history of women, gender, sexuality, labor, race, and ethnicity during this period, as well as the ways in which women's participation in the war effort may have contributed toward the civil rights movement of the 1950s and the feminist movement of the 1960s. Document headnotes, a chronology, questions for consideration, and a selected bibliography further enrich this work. Available in print and e-book formats."-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.