Women's Attitudes Toward Women During World War II

As men left their factory jobs to go fight in World War II (WWII), women stepped into their jobs to produce the heavy machinery needed for war and at home to keep the country running. An excerpt from the book The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter spoke of a young machinist, Celia Saparsteen Yanish, and the transition that women had to make into their jobs doing “men’s work.” Before the war, this country was battling an unemployment problem brought on by the Great Depression. The start of WWII erased this problem, as increased production was needed to produce war supplies and goods necessary during a time of war. Because men were both working and fighting in the war, there were more jobs available than could be filled by men. As new employment opportunities became available,
These men now had to work alongside the women who began doing these jobs during the war and at first their attitudes towards these women created problems in the work place. The men responded with harassment and discrimination toward the women. Sexual harassment directed toward women from men was commonplace. And even though women outnumbered the men in the labor force three to one they still had problems with the new idea of women as wage laborers. Male employees and male-controlled unions were suspicious of women. Companies saw women’s needs and desires on the job as secondary to men’s, so they were not taken seriously. Also, employers denied women positions of power excluding them from any kind of decision-making process of the company. Women wanted to be treated like the male workers and not given special consideration just because they were women. As time went on and more and more women entered the workforce, the attitudes towards women workers changed. Employers actually began to praise them. It was then that employers were more willing to let women do the work previously done by