How Woman Farmers Disrupted Gender Norms during World War 2
The enduring legacy of the Women’s Land Army
The Second World War facilitated the transformation of women’s roles in American society.
When the attacks on Pearl Harbor motivated the United States’ declaration of war against Japan and its allies, multitudes of young men enlisted for military service.
The resulting conscription of young male workers led to large shortages in the American labor force. As they were generally restricted from active combat, the labor shortages allowed American women to take part in work previously deemed masculine.
Despite backlash against the notion of white, middle-class women undertaking work in physically demanding roles previously dominated by male laborers, the sudden presence of women in every sector of the workforce sparked a “social revolution.”
Popular images of working women pervaded public consciousness, demonstrated by the iconic figure of “Rosie the Riveter,” the female factory worker dressed in dark blue coveralls, an item of clothing previously deemed inappropriate for women.
