Wold War II brought significant lasting changes. Women were allowed to engage in traditionally male jobs and it became socially acceptable for married women to work. Millions of women migrated to cities and moved across the country.

With the end of the war, the expectation was that life would go back to “normal.’’ Women could be homemakers or revert to traditional female job occupations.

The American Magazine, November 1944

A grateful America provided the veterans returning from the war with generous benefits, including medical care, disability payments, college education, and mortgage financing. Only women members of the armed services qualified.

During World War II Congresswoman Mary Norton sought federal funds for day-care centers for working women with the passage of the Lanham Act. Some of her legislative concerns included maternity leave, child care, "latch key" children, displaced homemakers, and equal pay for equal work.

While women were portrayed as safe on the Home Front, over 37,000 American civilian women were killed and over 210,000 civilian women were permanently disabled while serving in war-related capacities.

Between 1940 and 1945, the female labor force grew to 19 million, more than a third of the American civilian labor force. After the war, many women lost their jobs in the factories to men returning from the war. B women continued to work outside the home.  By 1950, women comprised 29 percent of the workforce in the United States, increasing steadily to one half of the American workforce today. 

Partners in Winning the War pays tribute to the American women of World War II who served in a variety of meaningful roles. The National Women's History Museum developed this exhibition in collaboration with the Women In Military Service For America Memorial Foundation (WIMSA). WIMSA housed the temporary exhibition from its grand opening on Memorial Day Weekend in May 2004 (to correspond with the dedication of the WWII Memorial) through March 2005.