A subject guide to women's efforts during World War II
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This subject guide is about women’s war efforts during World War II. This guide has a variety of resources both overviewing women in WWII and focusing on specific efforts by women. These efforts include cultivation of victory gardens and the Women’s Land Army, crafting victory quilts, and women entering factory work and the armed forces to replace and support enlisted men overseas. As in World War I, the US government encouraged women and children to grow their own produce as much as possible to free up resources for the war effort. The Women’s Land Army (WLA) was revived as well in both Britain and the US. Women, young and old, along with local youth worked on farms and in canneries to supplement farm laborers who served in other wartime activities. Their efforts, along with those who tended their own victory gardens, helped to feed citizens at home and overseas. In addition to this labor, women would also often fit in quilt making. Their quilts were sold or raffled off to raise funds for the war or were sent overseas to troops and refugees.
Factory production workers were crucial after America’s entry into the war brought a boom to the defense industry. As male factory workers were called to serve, women filled in the gaps. Immediately following the war women were pressured to give up the higher paying factory jobs, but ultimately, they were encouraged by the experience to seek new opportunities and to fight for equal pay. Women further supported the war effort through joining military ranks, including the Women’s Army Corps (WACs), the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES), and the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs). The women of the WASPs, all of whom obtained their pilots license prior to enlisting, were the first women to fly American military aircraft.