3
Topic: Women in WWII
Cornelsen Stewart Bruley Scott
Alteration of
women’s
roles
because of
WWII
- Women accredited the
WASP program for opening
new doors, challenging
stereotypes, and proving that
women were as capable as
men (p. 113)
- Women could compete with
men as equals in the sky
because of their exemplary
performance (p. 116)
- WASP created opportunities
for women that had never
previously existed (p. 112)
- Women’s success at flying
aircrafts “marked a pivotal
step towards breaking the
existing gender barrier” (p.
112)
- WAAC (Women’s Army
Auxiliary Corp) was 1
st
chance for women to serve in
army, given full army status in
1943 as WAC (p. 28)
- Needs of the war were so
great that women’s traditional
social roles were ignored (p.
30)
- Military women paid well
for the time period and given
benefits if they became
pregnant (p. 32)
- The 1940’s brought more
opportunities to women than
ever before (p. 26)
-Women given equal
opportunities (p. 223)
- Women joined workforce as
a break from the ordinary to
help the war (p. 220)
- Unconscious decision to
cross into male-dominated
roles (p. 221)
- Seized these new
opportunities to bring about
change (p. 230)
- Women born in the 1920’s
found new doors open to them
where they once would have
encountered brick walls (p.
526)
-Even women not directly
involved in the war were
changing mentally by being
challenged to expand their
horizons because of the
changing world around them
(p. 562)
- War also brought intellectual
expansion to many people (p.
557)
Hardships
and
oppositions
women
faced
- “From the outset male pilots
resented women’s presence in
a traditionally male military
setting” (p. 1113-4)
- “The WASP were routinely
assigned inferior planes that
were later found to have been
improperly maintained” (p.
114)
- discrimination against
WASP at every level of
military service, women were
only paid 2/3 of what men
were for doing identical tasks
(p. 114)
- Women in the military given
extensive physical and mental
tests, but still discriminated
against, ridiculed, and
considered inferior to men (p.
29)
- Women given unskilled
labor positions by government
because only seen as
temporary workers, therefore
no reason to train them (p.
221-2)
- Women given less
significant work and viewed
as less intelligent and
physically able (p. 224)
-“The Church-Bliss diary
reveals how dilution
arrangements…ensured that
women working in male
preserves were prevented