1930’s: During the New Deal Years, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt fought for social rights for women. Frances Perkins became the first female cabinet member when she joined Franklin Roosevelt’s administration as Secretary of Labor. Mary McLeod Bethune became the director of the Office of Minority Affairs in the National Youth Administration, becoming the highest ranking African American in the Roosevelt administration. Women’s reputations in political life were growing. In literature, Pearl Buck became the third American and first woman to win the Nobel Prize for literature in 1938.
1940’s: Women started gaining recognition in the army during World War II when 216,000 of them joined the armed forces. They were called the “women in arms”. The WAACs were women in the army, WAVES were in the navy, and the SPURs were the Coast Guard. Because 15 million men left for World War II, more than 6 million women took jobs (many in wartime industries) in the US and got paid for their work. They gained recognition in the workplace. Rosie the Riveter became a popular image for women and symbolized them as strong workers. Over 3000 daycare centers were set up in order to take care of the children while the mothers went to work. This changed the role of women as only housewives and child bearers. However, when the men came back from WWII, two thirds of women left their jobs and became mothers for the baby boom that occurred after war ended.
1940’s: Women started gaining recognition in the army during World War II when 216,000 of them joined the armed forces. They were called the “women in arms”. The WAACs were women in the army, WAVES were in the navy, and the SPURs were the Coast Guard. Because 15 million men left for World War II, more than 6 million women took jobs (many in wartime industries) in the US and got paid for their work. They gained recognition in the workplace. Rosie the Riveter became a popular image for women and symbolized them as strong workers. Over 3000 daycare centers were set up in order to take care of the children while the mothers went to work. This changed the role of women as only housewives and child bearers. However, when the men came back from WWII, two thirds of women left their jobs and became mothers for the baby boom that occurred after war ended.