Detroit Women Working in War Industries - World War II - Research Paper Example

?Detroit women working in war industries (WWII) World War II started a new era in the history of Women workforce. Detroit was one such place where Women Workforce made a great difference. Detroit is the largest city in the state of Michigan and its contribution to the Country during World War II is remarkable. Detroit was at the pinnacle of its glory during World War II. Detroit was called the ‘arsenal of democracy’ as huge amount of war related articles, arms and ammunitions were produced in this city. G.M, Chrysler and Ford, the three major automobile giants of the United States of America signed huge contracts with the Government to produce Planes, tanks, trucks and other equipments that are required for war fare. This caused a huge need for work force in the city. During 1940 s’ there were great discrimination based on sex. Women were not deemed fit to do men’s work. Hence most of the women of that period were housewives. Their main work was to take care of the house and the children. Further during the great depression there was a huge population of men who lost their jobs and was against employing women. The people during that time considered that by employing women, eligible unemployed men were being deprived of jobs. But due to the ongoing war most of the men were enrolled in the army and were not available for work. This resulted in a large scale need for workforce (Milkman, 1987). Another main reason for shortage of work force was the sudden increase in the need for Tanks, Planes, trucks and other equipment required for war fare. Due to the huge increase in need for those articles the major automobile companies in Detroit stopped the production of Automobiles and started concentrating more on producing war machines. This lead to development of new factory units and these Factories were involved in the production of war machines and other related equipments. It also created new vacancies and since majority of the men were either fighting for the country or wounded only few men were available to fill up these huge vacancies. This was also the main reason for the sudden shortage of workforce. Due to shortage of workforce, the production was greatly affected. As national interest was involved, the government started showing more concern towards this issue. As a result, the Government decided to involve the women folks of that area to work in the place of men. At the beginning response from the women was very less. Though few women came forward to work, they were only willing to do the traditional female jobs such as clerical or administrative works. They were not willing to do the so called traditional male jobs and they were not willing to work in the factories. But as there was huge vacancy in these types of jobs the government wanted to employ women in these types of jobs. The call for to work in the factories by the Government was responded mostly by women belonging to minority and lower class who were already employed in some other work. They just shifted from the low paid desk work to a better paid job. This did not help to reduce the need for work force in any way. Hence girls graduating from high schools were also recruited. This also did not suffice the need for the work force. So, the government turned its attention towards house wives. As the majority of the women were housewives, the government started targeting house wives for these kinds of jobs. The male population of the city was totally against this. They thought that by employing housewives the future of the children will be spoiled. In the beginning housewives, especially, with children were prevented from going to work. The government really had a very hard time in bring those women to work. United States of America being a democratic country was not able to force these people to work. Hence, it started to use various other means to do this (Babson, 1986). The government thought of luring the women to work through various propagandas. Through propagandas patriotic feeling was greatly increased. Further economic incentives were also given to women who were ready to take factory jobs. Fictional characters were created which attracted women and encouraged them to go to work. One such famous fictional character was ‘Rosie the Riveter’ which was first used in a song written by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb in 1942. Rosie was described as middle class women who worked hard in the assembly line of a factory. Many real life characters that resembled the fictional character were also used for propaganda. Rosalind P. Walter was one such real life character who became very famous. She was working on night shifts and was involved in manufacturing F4U Corsair fighter. Another woman who was closely associated with ‘Rosie the Riveter’ was Rose Will Monroe. She worked as a riveter at the Willow Run Aircraft Factory in Ypsilanti, Michigan. She stared in a promotional film about war effort in the Country. This was an instant hit and great success. It influenced a lot of women. It lured women to work. All these hard working women were brought to lime light solely for the purpose of increasing patriotism and courage inside every woman (Allan, 2009). The government promoted the war efforts through various posters. The government through its various agencies hired lots of artists and these artists were asked to create posters which increased patriotic feeling among the women folks. The government were more interested to lure the women to do factory work and hence they wanted these artists to create posters that provoked courage and the feeling of self dependence. A poster which cited ‘We can do it’, which was created by Pittsburgh artist J. Howard Miller became very famous and inspired a lot of women. In the poster a women was depicted in a blue work shirt with a raised hand. This was supposed to raise the morale of the women work force. These posters were posted in the factory premises to encourage the women. Another artist named Norman Rockwell created an image of the famous fictional character ‘Rosie the Riveter’. In his poster the artist featured Rosie as a brawny woman taking her lunch break with a rivet gun on her lap. This image was featured on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. This image became hugely popular and it was loaned to the U.S Treasury Department by the magazine to be used in the war bonds. All these efforts did not go in vain; a huge number of women came forward to work in the factories. The working women population increased from 12 million to 20 million by 1940. This was a 57 percent increase. During World War II the women work force created history in Detroit. By 1944 only 1.7 million unmarried men were employed in the defence industry while an amazing 4 million unmarried women were employed in the defence industry. It was estimated that the average women work force in a defence industry increased from 29% to 85 %. The women in Detroit not only proved that they can do men’s work but they also proved that they can do it with efficiency. Due to the hard labour but forth by the women, the city of Detroit produced huge amount of war related machines and instruments which greatly helped the country to win the war. As a result of these efforts a lot of quotes were written about Detroit. An article in Variety quoted Detroit as ‘the hottest town in America’ New York Times quoted ‘A miraculous city, a city forging thunderbolts’. Josef Stalin went one step further and stated that Detroit is winning the war (Fonow, 2003). Though all these hard work put forth by the Women of Detroit during World War II had many positive responses, many claim that this was only temporary. After the end of the World War II many women was asked to quit their job. This was done mainly to provide work for the war veterans. On the whole, women of the Detroit changed the popular stigma and image that held them back for years with their hard work and commitment. They manifested their will and capability in the work sphere and came out in flying colours. This hard work did not only help the Country to win the war but this also sowed the seeds for equality in future. Black women were working alongside with the white women and this greatly helped in the breaking down the social barrier that prevailed at that time. Reference: Milkman, Ruth. Gender at Work: The Dynamics of Job Segregation by Sex During World War II. Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1987. Print Babson, Steve. Working Detroit: The Making of a Union Town. Michigan: Wayne State University Press, 1986. Print Allan, Charles. Women's Rights: People and Perspectives. California: ABC-CLIO, 2009. Print Fonow, Mary. Union Women: Forging Feminism in the United Steelworkers of America. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 2003. Print Read More