Women Roles
Women played a prominent role during World War II. These women made the expansion of wartime possible because they were known as America’s “secret weapon.” 1 There was on average about 350,000 women in the workforce that either worked from home or in uniform outside their home. With this many women in the workforce, it allowed them to take over the technical jobs that men were doing, thus allowing the men to go out in battle. Their tasks ranged from being office clerks, to driving trucks, repairing airplanes, and flying military aircraft across the country.2 Essentially, that is how the women engaged in the war itself. There was great relief once these women began in the workforce, it allowed men to persevere on the battlefield.
The government was skeptical at first to let women join the military service, but they learned that these women brought new skills and opportunities to the workforce. The government realized that once you put the woman in a mans position of duty (technical jobs, repairing jobs, etc.) the man was able to go for combat. Nevertheless between 1940 and 1945, “the female percentage of the U.S. workforce increased from 27 percent to 37 percent, and by 1945 nearly one out of every four married women worked outside the home.”3 By May of 1942, women had full military status known as Women’s Army Corps. “Its members, known as WACs, worked in more than 200 non-combatant jobs stateside and in every theater of the war.” 4 There were sixteen women who were killed from a direct enemy fire while serving in the Army Nurse
Corps. In the Philippines, sixty-eight American women were captured as POWS. The women knew that these jobs could cost their lives, yet they were still willing to go into these dangerous situations in order to help during combat. “More than 1,600 nurses were decorated for bravery under fire and meritorious service, and 565 WACs in the Pacific Theater won combat decorations.”5 Some sought that women should only be nursing the wounded warriors, although that can be just as dangerous as being on the battlefield itself.
Corps. In the Philippines, sixty-eight American women were captured as POWS. The women knew that these jobs could cost their lives, yet they were still willing to go into these dangerous situations in order to help during combat. “More than 1,600 nurses were decorated for bravery under fire and meritorious service, and 565 WACs in the Pacific Theater won combat decorations.”5 Some sought that women should only be nursing the wounded warriors, although that can be just as dangerous as being on the battlefield itself.