The Making of the Kelly Girl: Gender and the Origins of the Temp Industry in Postwar America

Abstract

Abstract This article examines how temp industry leaders exploited notions of “women's work” in the postwar era to create a new category of “respectable” but marginal employment. Although they employed substantial numbers of men, postwar industry leaders publicly cast temp work as “women's work,” constructing the iconic image of the “Kelly Girl.” In doing so, they entered the postwar cultural debate about women and work, encouraging housewives to get jobs for self-fulfillment while at the same time maintaining the primacy of the domestic sphere. Through this strategy they began to build a new model of employment that would eventually change the meaning of work in America.