Women After World War 2 Summary

In the Lectures in History: Women in the Workforce after World War II, by Professor Robyn Muncy, states, “The most important task is to dispel the notion that American women workers went home after World War II; American women did not go home after World War II”. Professor Muncy’s lecture is to examine the lives of working American women in the era after World War II and their labor market experiences through the late 20th century. Before World War II, the prevailing image of women’s role were that of “housewives” and “mother”. World War II led to dramatic changes for the American women. “Wartime scarcities led to increased domestic labor” according to the history book, Created Equal: A History of the United States. Because of the high demand

Muncy states that “same occupations that were dominated in the late nineteenth century “continued throughout the 1950’s. From 1946-1964, younger women began bearing more children which “created the demographic bulge known as the baby boom” (Created Equal). As the growth occurred, new schools were built. In results, there was a high “demand for more school teachers” (Muncy). Because of the necessity of more teachers, marriage bars for teaching declined by the late 1950’s. Therefore, older women were able to continue teaching even if they were married or desired to get married. Not only schools were being built, but community hospitals were built as well: through government and corporate funding. Additionally, “Health care became centralized”, so there was a need for more nurses, states Muncy. Hospitals offered onsite daycares to keep mothers working. As the expansion of the American economy rose, more job opportunities became available to the American women such as secretaries, office workers and

By 1956, “18%” of women joined the unions. Muncy states “Through their union, there was enough women” to negotiate for women to receive paid maternity leave, maintain seniority and health insurance began to cover child birth. The union also asked for “equal pay”. According to the history book, Created Equal, “Labor union membership grew 50 percent, reaching an all-time high by the end of the war”. Muncy mentions, Addie Wyatt-African American women who worked for a meat packing industry in the early 1950’s. Wyatt was elected vice-president of the United Packing Housing Union, by her union local. Not only did Wyatt succeed to become a leader of labor union, but also redefined the role of women in the general labor movement. Eleanor Roosevelt “most admired women” in the 1950’s, Daisy Bate, and Rosa Parks, were also mentioned by Muncy. These women were important women who stood for what they believed in.
Middle age mothers between the ages of 30-40, began “flooding into the labor market” after World War II, according to Muncy. By this age, women had raised their children to a school age. Since the children were at an age where they started attending school, it made it possible for mothers to work. Muncy claims, that “the pattern was to leave temporarily and come back to work”. In contrast, there was a shift after 1965, women who had really young children, the women’s labor participation