Double Victory: How African American Women Broke Race and Gender Barriers to Help Win World War II
WAR WORKERS 7 domestics to be on call six days a week The job duties included cooking washing ironing cleaning and serving meals Some times domestics cared for the white families young children too The typical wage for a domestic worker was 7 a week Domestic workers in southern states made as little as 3 to 4 a week So when black women who worked as domestics heard about war jobs in defense plants that paid as much as 35 per week they were interested in applying for those positions The federal government created agencies to deal with issues related to war work The War Manpower Commission was formed to deal with the labor shortage caused by the large num ber of men entering military service The Office of War Informa tion relayed news and information about the war to the public The two agencies worked together to recruit women for the war industries A government official from the War Manpower Commis sion said in an interview with Time magazine that as the nation geared up for war it would need to look for workers in untapped sources He predicted that over 7 million people outside the paid workforce in the United States 92 percent of whom were women could be convinced to forsake kitchen or lounge for office and factory He warned that such a move would shake U S living habits He explained More women in the war effort means fewer women in the home as wives daughters or servants it means eating more meals out fewer socks darned fewer guests entertained at home and many another change in the American way of living The same official cautioned that the Negro problem was far from licked With so many white men entering the military and creating vacancies in the workforce he warned Employers had better get set for a big increase in pressure for jobs for Negroes And some white peo ple saw this as a problem Many white business owners would
8 DOUBLE VICTORY not want to hire black workers and they would resist pressure from anyone who tried to make them do so Wanted Women Workers Newspapers and magazines carried advertisements showing women working in defense plants Radio ads also encouraged women to work in war jobs The government printed posters and hung them in public places They showed women happily working for the war effort The posters carried slogans the more women at work the sooner we win do the job he left behind and women in the war we can’t win without them However the idea of women in nontraditional jobs was a new and very different idea for many Americans The gov ernment published pamphlets that revealed the beliefs of the time women were not equal to men in the workplace The pamphlets titled When You Hire Women Safety Caps for Women in War Factories Women’s Effective War Work Requires Good Pos ture and Washing and Toilet Facilities for Women in Industry indicated that women required special handling The pam phlets encouraged factory owners who were considering hiring women to first sell the idea to men Although many women did work before the war the pamphlets reminded those who were hiring that women were without work experience of any kind The pamphlets reinforced the sexist beliefs of the time by encouraging employers to hire women for certain type of work that women do particularly well work that required care and constant alertness good eyesight and use of light instruments The government also set up special divisions dedicated to black workers within the Labor Division of the War Produc tion Board The purpose of the division’s Negro Employment
WAR WORKERS 9 and Training Branch was to help qualified Negro workers participate in the employment and training opportunities of the national defense program It helped place black workers in defense jobs by removing barriers put in place by some white employers or labor organizations The duties of the Minority Groups Branch of the Labor Division of the War Production Board included making investigations into complaints involv ing minority groups that had been filed with the government Early in 1941 before the United States entered the war black leaders had pressured President Franklin Roosevelt to do some thing about job discrimination against black people The presi dent issued a statement Executive Order 8802 that said It is the policy of the United States to encourage full participation in the national defense program by all citizens of the United States regardless of race creed color or national origin To help enforce this order at businesses and manufacturing plants that had government contracts the president formed the Fair Employment Practices Committee FEPC Although the United States hadn’t yet entered the war fighting was in full force in Europe and factories in the United States were already provid ing the warring countries with supplies Many black people saw this gearing up of industries and the establishment of the FEPC as signs of hope for their employment opportunities After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 the United States entered the war Leaders in black communi ties and women’s organizations encouraged women to consider working in war-related jobs They believed black women faced a brighter future with wartime employment They urged women to enroll in free courses offered by the government to teach workers skills that would prepare them for work in defense plants They could learn welding drafting riveting drilling radio construction code receiving and sending engine repair
10 DOUBLE VICTORY and shipbuilding Some factories offered on-the-job training allowing women to learn skills while getting paid A government training center in Marcy New York offered a course to women in its Women Ordnance Workers WOW program At the same center women trained in a program called Women in Ground Service WINGS The women could choose from among six areas in the aviation field aviation engines aircraft fabrication welding electrical equipment repair and maintenance or parachute repair maintenance and pack ing After three to four months of training the women were qualified to accept employment in any war industry related to aviation While they were in training the women earned 49 a month and were provided a place to live The training center offered a recreation facility religious worship hobby and hiking clubs glee clubs and theater groups It was open to all races and it all sounded very good to women who had been working as domestics A Baltimore employment agency reported that in 1941 over 23,000 individuals worked as domestics cooks maids laun dresses gardeners and chauffeurs in the city By October 1942 the number had dropped to 15,000 A spokesman for the agency said he had 500 openings for domestics and was unable to fill them He blamed it on the war A high school graduate working as a domestic earned 30 a month while a high school graduate working in a war plant earned 35 a week with over time A cook maid worked 70 hours a week for 20 cents an hour women making gas masks at a war plant earned 42 cents an hour while women assembling small machine parts earned 63 cents an hour The situation was similar in New York A private employment agency reported that it had 23 women on its list of domestic workers Recently 10 had left for night jobs washing airplanes for a defense plant At their new jobs they earned 18
