A Woman’s Place Is in the Workforce: American Gender Roles During the Second World War

Abstract

World War II (1939-1945) was the most devastating conflict in global history. The United States underwent profound economic, political, and social change as the nation mobilized for war. Millions of American men were drafted into the armed forces, creating an acute labor shortage that the government addressed through propaganda campaigns to recruit women into previously male-dominated occupations. These dedicated efforts resulted in a surge of female employment in the defense industry, noncombatant military roles, and medicine. Female workers overcame significant discriminatory barriers and challenged traditional social norms with their critical wartime labor contributions. Despite post-war efforts to remove them from the workforce, female workers brought about lasting change to the American conception of gender roles that contributed to the later rise of the second-wave feminist movement.