A lot of women took on bigger roles in the workforce during World War II. Taxes also increased by a good amount during the war. Finding a job was no longer a struggle during WWII.
Many women took jobs in factories that their husbands had left behind. They also find some jobs in banks and different types of sales. Federal government jobs, which were held by men before, were now held by some women. Around one million women worked for the government during the war. Some women were even payed close to what the men were payed for their jobs. At many of the factories, the equipment had to be adjusted to fit the skill level that woman had for operating the equipment. Women also volunteered for organizations such as the Red Cross. A lot of women and their families moved to the coasts so they could live at military bases with their husbands.
After some discussion, the congress agreed that Americans would have to pay higher taxes to support the war effort. In 1944, every employed American were paying income tax; whereas, in 1940, only ten percent of the U.S. workforce were paying income tax. Pretty much all of the what the factories made, were going to be used for the military. At the end of the war, most of the soldiers came back and took the jobs that women had once held. Obviously, most of the women were not happy with this.
I thought that the American Homefront during WWII started to interest me more after I read into it. Women really made a big step back home during the war.
Sources-
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/512Y419GR7L.jpg
http://beta.ohiohumanities.org/news/pfall06/image/p10.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_home_front_during_World_War_II
http://www.ameshistoricalsociety.org/exhibits/events/rationing.htm
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