Working
Women
The US
government encouraged women to work in the war industry. They
created a character called "Rosie the Riveter" to
promote women's work. "Rosie" worked at a job previously
held by a man because her country needed her to make weapons
for war. The number of working women leaped from 12 million
in 1940 to 18 million in 1945. Women's work contributed substantially
to the arming of American troops and helped win the war.
Many working
women viewed their jobs as temporary. They returned to homemaking
and child rearing after the war. Companies also expected women
to leave the workforce to make way for veterans.
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Appleton Wire Works employees from left to right include:
Eva Loose, Harriett Stals, Fran Vand Nuland (3rd from right),
Peggy VanLanen, and Clara Kuhn, 1943
OCHS # 1988.31.1
The
Appleton Wire Works employed women as machine operators
and supervisors of tank-tread production after men left
for war. The company supplied the military with gas filter
screens, shell casings, fuse caps for artillery shells,
and tank treads.
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Thilmany
of Kaukauna employed 29 women in jobs formerly held by men
when the picture on the right was taken. Management allowed
women to work as paper machine operators, paper testers, and
winder helpers. Labor unions required that women's wages,
hours, and benefits match those of the men they replaced.
Thilmany called these women "their own version of America's
Rosie the Riveter."
Thilmany
made a triple-wrapped, mold-proof, and insect-proof paper
that protected food from a fungus called "Green Hell."
The fungus had contaminated soldiers' food in the Pacific.
The company also made TNT bag liners, V-Mail bags, carton
liners for machine gun clips, and wrappers for military equipment
and supplies.
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Thilmany employees removed a waterproof cylinder from a rewinder,
March 15, 1943
Courtesy of International Papers |
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