Keeping the home fires burning and doing the necessary work for the troops that could be done at home and having to take over more male roles, more vocational and occupational positions that men previously had, proved [women's] ability and equality.
Rosamonde R. Boyd
World events played a tremendous part in women’s changing roles in America over the course of the twentieth century. During World War I, thousands of young men left their homes to join the military and fight in the Great War. In their absence, women were expected to “keep the home fires burning” : they managed homes and families without the help of their husbands, sons, brothers, or fathers. In addition to their own traditional duties, many women served as the head of household while the men in their family were away or took up jobs vacated by men. North Carolina’s Harriet Morehead Berry became acting state geologist from 1917-1919 when her supervisor, J.H. Pratt, enlisted in the United States Army. With more than 58,000 Americans killed during WWI, many women became widows. They shouldered the responsibilities they had taken up during the war and continued to support themselves and their families.
"Such an important role" - Rosamonde R. Boyd
World War II had a similar but even more substantial effect on the role of American women. In addition to managing the home in the absence of male members of the family, women took up occupations and jobs that had previously been closed to them. The country’s need for workers to support the war effort induced millions of women to enter the workforce for the first time ever. Women worked in banks, factories, and government jobs in order to fill positions vacated by men during wartime. A classic image of the time is that of “Rosie the Riveter,” a typical American woman who supports her country by entering the workforce to build airplanes and munitions for American troops. The new message for women was that leaving their traditional place in the home was part of their patriotic duty in order to support the troops and keep the American economy stable. The tremendous influx of women entering the workforce began to change ideas about what kind of work was “acceptable” for women. Women’s success in the wartime workforce also began to change ideas about what women were capable of.
"Give them employment" - Guion Griffis Johnson
However, these changes were stymied when WWII ended and the soldiers returned home. With waves of young men returning to the United States, women found themselves under increasing pressure to “go back home.” Whereas during the war it had been a patriotic duty for a woman to leave her traditional place in the home, after the war women were urged to return to their traditional roles in order to make their jobs available for returning GIs.
Despite this pressure, for many women the floodgates had been opened. They had seized opportunities to pursue goals and ambitions outside of traditional norms, and they had proven to themselves and to others that they were capable of succeeding and excelling. After the war, more women began to assert their abilities and their place in non-traditional career paths.
