Show del 3 17 a N 2 DURING WORLD WAR 11 II women like the one above using a turning tool proved highly efficient workmen in plants where women had never before been employed MANPOWER WO power Is great unused U S resource in event of war former women defense workers ot of world war 11 II stirred by news headlines of bigger armament appropriations are beginning to apply to their old employers for factory lobs jobs but the jobs generally ge wont be available for many months yet reports the family economics bureau of northwestern national lite life insurance company F from orn industrial plants in such former war industry centers as detroit detro it cleveland Chi chicago cako and minneapolis personnel departments report scattering early bird calls from women who dropped out of 0 war production work after VJ V J day it will be well into 1951 however before current armament legislation on in congress can turn into any sizeable number of factory jobs but when the need comes we will have an estimated r reserve pool 0 of f M 1 million women some already trained but most yet to be trained normal population growth Is increasing this pool at the rate of per year the bureau reports fine world war 11 II record women have proven their value to defense and therein lies a story in which america overcame pre prejudice and tradition at the beginning of world war 11 II Ind industry found it necessary to recruit t women but they were met with apathy or outright resistance many employers and men workers believed that women had no mechanical aptitude were not accustomed customer cus tomed d to regular working hours and close supervision and would woul d not work side by side with men without disrupting plant morale but as the number of women on production lines continued to increase in world war II 11 employers and foremen were effusive in their praise of the quality and quantity of the he work done by women under their supervision and were even willing to admit its equality to that of men 1 in 1900 one american woman out of five was gainfully employed in 1940 one out of every tour four women held a paying job from the pearl harbor attack in december 1941 to the peak of 1944 0 6 million women joined the working force bringing the total numb number of employed women to approximately 20 million many i i in n heavy industry there were women in the aircraft industry they made up per cent of the production force as against a mere fraction of 1 per cent in 1940 in the making of electrical machinery and equipment a light industry which had employed women on almost a third of its production jobs before the war the number ot of women rose to or 48 per cent the shipbuilding industry in which a number of jobs are physically difficult disagreeable or dangerous was understandably stand stan dably bly slow to admit women yet in october 1943 there here were 18 1700 women 06 06 per cent in the shipyards many of them worked outdoors in all kinds of weather or tackled jobs such as cleaning bilges and sandblasting sand blasting in other heavy industries such as steel reluctant to employ women the number in the plants continued to increase until women were employed by autumn of 1944 in uie the event of war and total mobilization women would play an ever greater part in armed forces than during world war it II during the last conflict women were members of the armed f forces aces about one third the number that the army estimated it could have used A 4 new emergency would undoubtedly require a greater number of women in the services draft a possibility if there was a new emergency the united states would probably try first to recruit women on a vo voluntary basis if I 1 that failed to produce the numbers needed the only recourse open would be some form of compulsory service perhaps similar to that used by great britain during world war 11 II after VJ V J day less than two million women dropped from the employment rolls so that of the total female population aged 14 or over one out of every three or over 18 19 million are still gainfully employed due to the high marriage rate of recent years the number or of single women in the population Is almost 3 million less than in 1910 1940 and of our nearly 33 million housewives a larger proportion have small children therefore our r reserves of potential women workers like our reserves of 0 male workers are far smaller than before world war 11 II nevertheless a reserve pool of from INA 1 million to two million additional dit ional women workers can make a huge difference in the power 0 of f a new defense effort women workers had a proud record in world war 11 II they quickly learned the necessary skills their absenteeism was lower they gave high quality performance on the job women not only tilled filled defense plant jobs but equally important they filled vacancies in civilian occupations left by men entering military service and thereby kept the home front economy from being disrupted the need for women in industry w will III increase during the next year as the armed forces ore are expanded to men at present there are about men in the armed services form farm role rate important women during world war II 11 increased their activities on the farms of or the nations and at the end of the conflict were working in the fields beside men in jobs they had never done before that they were successful is evident by the fact that agricultural production pi reached an all time high during the conflict employment in united states state s industry trade and other lines has reached an all time high of the bureau of labor labo statistics reported recently the bureau reported this rise in employment reflected slon s 1 0 n of industrial activity to meet the national mobilization drive to maintain this drive more and ana more women will be called to replace men inducted into the armed services the total number of employed persons including those on farms and in military services Is now more than ODO in the event of war women and particularly housewives would play an important role in the warden service organized under local civil defense authorities experience has proved that women are particularly qualified for this type of responsibility and are generally present in residential neighborhoods at all hours |