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Women working as barbrs. Photo courtesy of UW Digital Collections.Before the World War I, women typically played the role of the homemaker. Women were judged by their beauty rather than by their ability. Their position and status were directed towards maintaining the annual duties of the family and children. These duties consisted of cleaning and caring for the house, caring for the young, cooking for the family, maintaining a yard, and sewing clothing for all. Women had worked in textile industries and other industries as far back as 1880, but had been kept out of heavy industries and other positions involving any real responsibility. Just before the war, women began to break away from the traditional roles they had played.

As men left their jobs to serve their country in war overseas, women replaced their jobs. Women filled many jobs that were brought into existence by wartime needs. As a result, the number of women employed greatly increased in many industries. In the U.S. there were, before the war, over eight million women in paid occupations. After the war began, not only did their numbers increased in common lines of work, but as one newspaper stated, “There has been a sudden influx of women into such unusual occupations as bank clerks, ticket sellers, elevator operator, chauffeur, street car conductor, railroad trackwalker, section hand, locomotive wiper and oiler, locomotive dispatcher, block operator, draw bridge attendant, and employment in machine shops, steel mills, powder and ammunition factories, airplane works, boot blacking and farming.”[1] Many of these women were married, and some were mothers whose husbands or older sons had gone to front. Women were also seen as vital resources for wartime aids, and various wartime slogans such as “You should aid nation in the war”[2] and “Everyone has to be a helper”[3] emphasized patriotism and created the environment for women’s active involvement in many industries. By looking...