Women's military service in World War II

Role of Women in World War II

The Women's Auxiliary Corps

The role of women changed in the 20th century without precedence in history. The change began with events during World War II, which altered and even reversed women's social servility and traditional role. Women's rights reached a peak during this time, especially with the formation of the first female military units. Among these was the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, later renamed into the Women's Army Corps. The realities of war exact no less than total commitment of governments and individuals. Things are not normal at war time. A nation's resources have to be pledged in order to gain victory. These resources include women who otherwise are not active part of the war. D'Ann Campbell emphasized that every man, woman and child must be involved in the overall plan, organization and administration of the war effort.

Moreover, the last War required not only a more powerful war machine but also a more responsive mechanism to meet domestic needs. The WAC or Corps had to deal with rough and unfeminine chores. Its members had to operate telephone switchboards and typewriters, adding machines and pencils, washing machines and frying pans. These women had to take over men's jobs so they could fight in the war. Women workers in Great Britain and Russia, for example, displayed greater efficiency than men. Secretaries, waitresses, farm girls, and housewives operated cranes, feeding machines, and performed mechanical work. The WAAC or WAC was created in May, 1942 by virtue of a bill. WAC women or WACs were formed into platoons, companies and regiments. They got enlisted in the Army just like male soldiers. They were between 21 and 45 years old, between five and six feet in height and no less than 105 lbs heavy. They had to pass a physical examination and an intelligence test like the regular army. The New York Times reported that approximately 350,000 women served during World War II. They served at home and abroad.

Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service

US President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Women's Reserve Act in 1942, which created the Volunteer Emergency Service, or WAVES, in the Navy. Thousands of women responded to call and got enlisted as sailors and commissioned officers. Under WAVES, they contributed far more than those before them who had served as clerks, secretaries and nurses. They performed intelligence, science and technology, and medical functions, among others. They were led by Mildred McAfee as director of the Women's Reserve. She was a lieutenant commander and the Navy's first female officer. WAVES women during the World War functioned as code-breakers of German messages. The role was filled predominantly by men before the War. The WAVES women worked in factories, businesses, family farms and in stadiums.

Soviet Snipers

Young Soviet women volunteered for combat in 1941 and proved that they could be as effective frontline soldiers as men. Of the 800,000 women who served during this War, 350,000 were in combat. Those between 17 and 27 proved to be effective bombers, snipers, fighter pilots, machine-gunners, anti-aircraft fighters and combat engineers, platoon and company commanders. Women snipers who graduated from the Central Women's Sniper School in Moscow reportedly killed more than 11,000 German soldiers. The female night bomber regiments even proved more effective than the male regiment on the basis of accuracy. They were thus given the most demanding assignments.

Despite their accomplishments, the women were not allowed to stay in the army. The Soviets preferred that women should give birth and make home to continue serving as career officers. The general impression was that men in the army were uneasy with women. They got disoriented and preferred protecting women to fighting along with them. After four years of combat, however, male and female fighters learned to fight together. Eventually, male soldiers and officers accepted female platoon and company commanders.

Soldiers in Housedresses"

Women during the war contributed their valuable energy in three ways. The first was, as military auxiliaries, they took the jobs left by the draft. The Women's Army Service Pilots, as an example, flew in new planes to army bases, brought in troops and tried new planes. The second was as farm women and housewives who did their part in kitchens and gardens through "domestic patriotism," as historians described. This was by providing services, such as canning, cooking, preserving, sewing and saving goods, needed to win the War. They grew Victory Gardens, canned fruits and vegetables, and tended flocks. They also engaged in salvage efforts and through the Red Cross. The third way was by working in the heavy industry, as exemplified by Rosie the Riveter. During the War, waitresses, department store clerks, secretaries and factory workers moved from light to heavy industries for better-paying jobs. These were companies building airplanes, ships and tanks. The pay was not the only attraction to them. Their occupation also offered them the opportunity to practice patriotism and the discovery of their own working skills. Towards the end of the War, the government and the media forged a new role for women. By then, they were needed at home. But the rest of them remained working in heavy industries and their number swelled.

Home Front Warriors

As the destructive World War raged, these women had to bother about what fighters had to eat to keep in fighting form. They kept the home fires burning and provided comfort foods to those who needed them in those hard times. In comparison to present-day housewives, those during the last War did not have all the foods they needed for their function. They had to use substitutes, such as Knox spread for butter and emergency steak. Knox spread was made up mostly of tasteless gelatin, water, salt, evaporated milk and mere food coloring. Emergency steak, on the other hand, was made of wheat cereal, milk, chopped onion, small ground beef, salt and pepper. The women shaped these ingredients into a T-bone steak and fried them.

The people of the time suffered from food shortages as they did in the earlier War. Homemakers bought all the sugar and coffee they could find in the supermarkets for fear of more shortages. The foods they could obtain were imported and prices of the products shot up because of the War. The government had to resort to food rationing and distributed coupons. As the War proceeded, meat, fats and milk became scarce. Soon, there were 10 rationing programs. The shortages made preparing a meal a difficult task. Homemakers had to innovate or improvise on sugar substitutes, such as molasses, maple syrup, honey, corn syrup, sweetened condensed milk and soda pop. Leftovers were used as stuffing for peppers for another day. Victory Gardens were grown to respond to the need of the time in every family. The produce of the Gardens supplied the family needs at home and sent to feed America's European allies.

The times tested the spirit. But those women coped with hardship with courage until it did not seem like hardship. They recalled having babies and got extra ration coupons. Surprisingly, they had more than they needed. They even shared what they had with others who needed them. But all in all, they had to make sacrifices. They had to stretch a piece of meet to feed all the members of the family. They used oleo in place of butter. The government used butter and other fats for warfare. Glycerin was used for explosives. Homemakers would take fat from meat drippings and trimmings to a butcher and exchange these with ration coupons.

Navy League Women

Many of the members of the Navy League were women who contributed their part during World War II by filling defense-rated positions usually taken by men. In Philadelphia, for example, a convalescent center for injured members of the armed forces was set up. The women Navy leaguers took the injured members to the countryside or the seashore. There they made the injured feel as good as possible and as if they were at home. The leaguers also hosted similar outings for families who fought overseas. The service center accepted an injured member to care, regardless of race, creed or color. Five pilot Army and Navy hospitals first established in and around Philadelphia and proved successful.

Navy League women also assisted active-duty personnel in their naval or military assignments. Women councils taught at special defense training schools. They conducted courses on parachute packing, radio communications and cryptanalysis and other topics. They also sewed thousands of uniform and uniform items for members at sea. They usually worked with other women volunteers from the Navy Relief Society, the Seamen's Church Institute and the Society for Seamen's Children. The New York City Women's Council prepared celebrity dinners and dancer from sales of clothing for wives and widows of soldiers. It also found jobs for their women members. The National Women's Council distributed wooden cribs and wooden toy trains to the children of sailors. The squadrons of these sailors were instrumental in disrupting Japanese naval operations in the first part of the War in the Pacific. They also helped sailors and marines stay out of trouble through the use of "pathfinder cards," which they could use to buy free meals and entertainment at particular enlisted clubs. These clubs were run and manned by Navy League volunteers and similar patriotic groups. The Navy League offered decent but attractive entertainment to patrons. Sailors had the chance to meet decent girls in these clubs. This information was voiced over by a loud speaker in the ships. Navy League women also functioned as volunteer nurses and as recruiters for the WAVES.

Women Computers

In the past, the word "computer" was a job, not a machine as it is known today. Both men and women were hired to function as computers then. But there were more women than men computers for practical reasons. There were more women who trained in mathematics and who could be hired for less than men with the same training. But women took the job in and, as a result, contributed valuably to the invention of the first electronic computers. In 1942 as World War II brew, hundreds of women were hired throughout the country as computers. They solved long lists of equations on mechanical desk calculators. The inputs were compiled into tables and passed on to the battlefields by gunnery officers. The tables enabled those in the battlefield to program their artillery and other weapons according to the variable conditions provided, such as temperature and air density. The Moore School of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia had dozens of women computers. There they pounded on calculators and produced columns of numbers. Besides computing, they recruited and trained women college graduates with math degrees and, later on, high school graduates as well. Some of them operated a differential analyzer, which calculated the path of a shell or bomb in its flight. Others assembled circuits used in the ENIAC, one of the first electronic digital computers. Nearing the completion of the ENIAC, more women were hired as human computers for training as programmers. The War ended in 1945 but the interest in the machine continued for its potential in calculating complex equations at very fast speeds. The last women taken as programmers devised the very first computer program, which was formally introduced in 1946. All these innovating women were released when the machine was taken into a military base in Washington DC. Most of the women found jobs as programmers elsewhere.