Overall Women’s workforce in WWII
After some women joined unions, how much did their pay increase?
$0.09 ($0.54-$0.65)
While women were hired all across the country during WWII, which coast saw the highest number of female workers in shipyards?
The West Coast. Shipyards on the West Coast and newly built emergency shipyards saw the highest concentration of female workers, who made up 54.9% of newly employed workers.
What jobs were most Black women employed in during the war?
Domestic service
Hispanic people in America felt a sense of patriotic duty during WWII, True or False?
True! Many Hispanic men and women joined the military, and most of the people who stayed felt obligated to do their part on the home front!
This campaign icon became a symbol of American women stepping up to support the war effort.
Rosie the Riveter
Despite facing barriers of racism and sexism, women of these communities played a role in wartime production and other areas needed.
Minority Women
How did the Maritime Commission justify not hiring black workers?
They claimed white employees would not tolerate working alongside Black employees and that it would jeopardize production.
What reason did white women give for being uncomfortable with sharing workspace with Black women?
Concern about hygiene
Were most Wartime jobs for Hispanics a step up from their previous jobs, True or False?
TRUE!, “After pursuing the Euro-American labor force, employers turned also to black and Mexican women, in addition to smaller numbers of Chinese women and Filipinas, making available light industrial positions that allowed women of color to break away from the harsh, dirty jobs of sweatshops, fields, and domestic work."
Who did the Rosie the Riveter advertisements appeal to?
White, middle-class women
World War II labor campaigns not only looked at workforce shortages but also led to this societal shift, as women entered roles in heavy industries and manufacturing.
Challenging traditional gender roles
True or False: Due to their similar experiences white female employees and Black male employees turned to one another for support
False. “Despite their similar experiences, they did not turn to one another: differences of gender were compounded by differences of race.”
Where in the workplace hierarchy did Black women fall?
The bottom
What were the most popular jobs amongst Hispanic Women during WWII
Aircraft and Shipbuilding
True or False: Some men weren’t afraid that women would take their jobs
False
During WWII, women who worked in an industry that required them to have skills in welding and riveting helped construct these for war.
Naval Ships
True or False: The Maritime Commission aided women in maintaining their employment after the war ended
False. While the Maritime Commission encouraged the participation of women during the war, it did little to ensure their continued employment after the war had ended. The demand for skilled male workers after the war trumped women’s desire to remain.
True or false: did white industry workers consider Black workers a risk to their labor unions during WWII?
True
Hispanic adults were not the only ones doing their part. At Garfield High School in California, students would work 4 hours a day learning, and the other 4 hours earning 19¢/ hour, making what?
A-Ammunition
B-Soldier Uniforms
C-Aircraft Bomb Doors
D-Gas Masks
C Aircraft Bomb Doors!
“In 1943, Avion, a subsidiary of the Douglas Aircraft Company, hoped to tap teen workers by converting the industrial arts shop at Garfield High School into a small-scale factory making bomb doors for combat aircraft. With the “Four-Four Plan,”
True or False: After Rosie the Riveter came out and became popular, women were treated better at work
True
Why were women given the opportunity to join the workforce?
Men were overseas fighting in WWII and companies needed workers, so they turned to women
It was an expectation that women would exit the workforce as soon as the war ended. However, a national survey of women war workers conducted by the Women’s Bureau found that what percentage of employed women intended to work after the war?
About 74%! Approximately 86% of these women wanted to remain in the same occupational group
What was considered the “second emancipation” for Black women in the United States?
The beginning of WWII
Due to the culture of Hispanics during this time, Hispanic women were not allowed to go out without permission or a male relative to protect them. When many of the males left to fight in the war, this changed. What was the most popular nightly event for Hispanic Women to attend?
Swing Dancing! Women would go out and dance the night away, this was a cross-cultural/ ethnic phenomenon. This exposed Hispanic women to all types of different backgrounds.
Though minority women contributed a lot to the war effort, this form of media often portrayed only white, middle class women as the ideal worker
Government Propaganda