WOMEN IN THE HOME AND COMMUNITY

Women’s Bureau advocated equal pay for women,
but it was not legally required

Credit: Women’s Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor

Kroger Sponsors War Bond Advertisements

Credit: National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

Mary McLeod Bethune, president of the National Association of Colored Women and Founder of the National Council of Negro Women, publicized the availability of new job opportunities through black women's clubs and publications, and promoted greater opportunities for women of color as a consultant to U.S. government agencies on labor matters and female officer candidates.

Presidents of women’s organizations watch a review of
WACs at Fort Des Moines, Iowa in 1943.

Credit: National Society Daughters of the American Revolution
Women played a prominent role in promoting the sale of war bonds to fund defense production. The General Federation of Women’s Clubs “Buy a Bomber” campaign funded production of 431 planes.

 

School children of San Augustine county, Texas line up to buy war bonds.

Credit: Library of Congress
“Buy a Bomber,” General Federation of Women's Clubs sponsored a
fundraising campaign to fund construction of bombers, September 1943

Credit:  General Federation of Women’s Clubs

NWHM Home

VOLUNTEERS

Housework and voluntary activities continued to occupy the majority of married women, but these women were not idle. Women’s organizations lent their support to the war effort and promoted volunteerism.

The Women’s Advisory Committee of the War Manpower Commission made recommendations for government policy, including removing all barriers to training or employing women in any occupation and basing wages only on the basis of the work performed. Click HERE to read page 1 of an article called "Advisors on WomanPower" by Virginia Price, the Executive Secretary of the Women's Advisory Committee of the War Manpower Commission. Click HERE to read page 2 of the article.