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PROGRAM GUIDE Women’S Roles Changed Significantly in World War II America

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PROGRAM GUIDE Women’S Roles Changed Significantly in World War II America How Did American Women Act? Heroism on the Home Front PROGRAM GUIDE Women’s roles changed significantly in World War II America. Many were conscripted to join the war effort and wielded new power through jobs outside the home. But, their influence wasn’t limited to factory floors. Some women used their social and political positions to fight back against isolationism and sound the alarm about the plight of Europe’s Jews. A select few even put their lives at risk to organize acts of rescue. This program explores the role of the everyday woman during this era, as well as the mindset and motivations of a few extraordinary individuals who dared to act, including Edith Rogers, Martha Sharp, and Eleanor Roosevelt. VISUAL SLIDE # DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND NOTES I. SCENE SETTING: AMERICAN WOMEN IN THE 1930S AND 1940S IMAGE 1: Title slide 1) What were the challenges facing Americans in the 1930s and 1940s? • Following the Great War, Americans were wary of foreign conflicts. IMAGE 2: Bread lines • During the Great Depression, unemployment reached 25% IMAGE 3: Lynching • It was a divided, racist, and isolationist society, fueled by fears of economic protest sign uncertainty and war. IMAGE 4: • Most Americans – 93% – wanted to stay out of WWII; they were anti-immigrant Poll - Stay out of war and didn’t want to increase the quota for refugees. • The majority of Americans, including women, were more concerned with domestic IMAGE 5: Side by issues. side anti-immigrant • Most Americans indicated that if in Congress, they would not vote for a bill to open polls doors to refugees. 2) What’s the significance of talking about American women’s roles during the 1930s and 1940s? IMAGE 6: The Big • This period has traditionally been viewed as a “man’s” history, focused on world Three leaders such as “The Big Three”: Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. At the time, society did not value the role of women, so it wasn’t written about – but that’s changing. • Women and even young girls found ways to act during this challenging time in the U.S. • There was a lot required of women at the time, and there still is -- in communities, in professions, in the home - everywhere. VIDEO 7: Women in • Women showed a lot of strength, flexibility, agency, and resilience. Those stories home (Length: 00:45; are continually being uncovered, and need to be told. Last scene: “Yes but • Let’s take a moment to view a short film clip, highlighting what was expected of I’m running it for you women at that time. dear.”) VIDEO: Women in the Home 3) Can you tell us more about the status of women across America? IMAGE 8: Protest for right to vote • Women’s right to vote was ratified in 1920. IMAGE 9: • There were 11 million women in the workforce – 2 million were domestic servants. Recruitment for • Out of the women professionals, half were teachers and one quarter were nurses. household work • Out of the overall workforce, more than 97% of engineers, lawyers, and judges were male, while 99% of housekeepers were female. • More women graduated high school than men, but only 40% of college students IMAGE 10: Should were female. married women earn • Overall sentiment about married women working at the time was seen in polls – money majority say women should not work. II. A SHIFT IN WOMEN’S ROLES DURING THE EARLY 1940S 1) How did American women’s roles change as time progressed and World War II began? IMAGE 11: Poll, • We have a poll here from 1939 that shows that only 37% of the American women in 1939 population were in full support of women working outside the home. • But, as time progressed into the early 1940s and war broke out, things changed. IMAGE 12: Poll, This poll from 1941 shows a jump to 68% of Americans being in favor of women women in 1941 working. Women began to be recruited for opportunities to join the war effort across all levels. • Let’s take a look at some of the recruitment efforts that were present in newsreels VIDEO 13: Women across the country. join war effort VIDEO: Why Women Must Join War Effort (Length: 3:00; Last • These are obviously propaganda clips, however they reveal the important changes scene: “our precious taking place regarding women in the workforce. freedoms shall be • Many women were recruited from all walks of life to work on various projects preserved.”) across the country. 2 III. STORIES OF WOMEN WHO ACTED 1) How did some women act on behalf of Jews being persecuted in Nazi-occupied areas? IMAGE 14: Edith • Women advocated for refugees – in Congress, and everyday Americans in their Rogers, solo and in homes. congress • An incredible example is Edith Rogers. • She served in the House as a Republican for 35 years – one of the longest tenures of any woman to date. • She was one of 1st members of Congress to denounce Nazi racial policies. • With Rep. Robert Wagner, she co-sponsored the Wagner-Rogers Bill in 1939, which would have allowed additional German refugee children to enter the US outside of existing quotas. • Due to anti-immigration sentiment at the time, it was never voted on in Congress. 2) Professional social worker Martha Sharp also did tremendous work for refugees. IMAGE 15: Martha • She and her husband Waitstill Sharp, a Unitarian Minister, were motivated by their Sharp, solo and in faith and moral outrage at the Nazi persecution of Jews. France • The Unitarian church selected them to aid refugees from the German Reich. • They left for Europe on February 4, 1939, leaving behind their two small children with close friends. • Their work included bringing visa applicants to the attention of embassies, securing release from prisons, and arranging travel to safer destinations for refugees. They returned to the US in August 1939. • In May 1940 they returned to Europe, setting up the first Unitarian Service Committee (USC) in neutral Portugal, helping several thousand people escape from Nazi-occupied countries. • The Sharps received the recognition of Righteous Among the Nations in 2006. 3) It wasn’t just adult women acting on behalf of refugees – young girls also did so, such as Jane Bomberger. IMAGE 16: Jane Bomberger & • In 1935, Marianne Winter of Vienna, Austria, began exchanging letters with Jane Marianne Winter Bomberger, a non-Jewish girl living in Reading, Pennsylvania. 3 • The two were matched through the Camp Fire Girls organization, and forged a deep friendship. • After Nazi Germany annexed Austria, Jews living there tried to immigrate to the US, but struggled to gather the documents required to obtain an immigration visa. • Refugees also needed an American sponsor willing to sign a financial affidavit promising support. IMAGE 17: Affidavit, • 16-year-old Marianne and her family quickly became subject to new anti-Semitic with Marianne’s quote laws. • In June 1938, Marianne wrote Jane to ask “whether she knew any rich man who could help” • Though Jane’s father was not rich, the Bombergers sponsored the Winter family. IMAGE 18: Hands • Jane’s father Joseph signed an affidavit on July 18, 1938. As sponsor, he agreed Across the Sea are to financially support Marianne, her parents, and younger brother. Joined • The Bombergers invited them into their home in Reading, PA until they found their own apartment. • Marianne became the primary breadwinner in the family, going to work and learning to be a dressmaker. 4) How did some women on the home front help contribute to the war effort? IMAGE 19: Women • Women were recruited to work in the town of Oak Ridge, TN – a secret city built for operators enriching Uranium for the first atomic bomb ever used in combat. • There were many economic opportunities for the women working there. IMAGE 20: Welders • There were many African Americans who worked there and had very different IMAGE 21: experiences from their white counterparts – this was the era of segregation. segregated facilities • Among them was Kattie Strickland, who came to Oak Ridge with her husband. IMAGE 22: Kattie • The living conditions were poor, she was forbidden to live or socialize with her Strickland today spouse or children, and she lacked access to quality food. • The salary initially offered to Kattie was more than twice the best job she could IMAGE 23: African have gotten in her home town of Auburn, Alabama. American hutments • Despite these difficult injustices, there were considerable incentives and opportunities for Kattie and other African American women at Oak Ridge, and their work was vital for the war. 5) Well-known women also contributed to the war effort in surprising ways. IMAGE 24: Hedy • Hedy Lamarr, well-known, beautiful Hollywood actress, was also a Jewish Lamarr, 1944 immigrant from Vienna, Austria; she immigrated to England in 1937 and to the US in 1938. 4 • She participated in the Hollywood Canteen and selling war bonds for the US military. • Hedy was less known for her brilliant mind and for inventing a “frequency hopping” device with composer George Antheil. • The device intercepted radio waves and helped guide torpedoes to their target, while also blocking enemy communications. • They received a patent for their invention on August 11, 1942, but it was initially rejected by the US Navy. • Let’s review a clip detailing Hedy’s efforts to promote her invention. VIDEO 25: VIDEO: Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story “Bombshell: Hedy • What isn’t noted in this clip is that Lamarr and Antheil were never paid for their Lamarr Story” work, as their patent expired in 1959. (Length: 1:58; Last • It was used by the Navy through a contractor as early as the mid-50s, but Lamarr Scene: “…I am an was unaware of this.
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