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At the end of World War Two, those women who had found alternate employment from

the normal for women lost their jobs. The returning soldiers had to be found jobs and
many wanted society to return to normal. Therefore by 1939, many young girls found
employment in domestic service - 2 million of them, just as had happened in 1914.
Wages were still only 25p a week.

When women found employment in the Civil Service, in teaching and in medicine they
had to leave when they got married.

However, between the wars, they had got full voting equality with men when in 1928 a
law was passed which stated that any person over the age of 21 could vote - male and
female.

The war once again gave women the opportunity to show what they could do.

Evacuation:

Young mothers with young children were evacuated from the cities considered to be in
danger. In all, 3.5 million children were evacuated though many went with a teacher. As
young children were normally taught by females, many of those who went with the
children were women. The fact that women were seen to be the people who taught the
youngest was something that had been going on for years.

The Women's Land Army:

As in World War One, women were called on to help on the land and the Women’s Land
Army (WLA) was re-formed in July 1939. Their work was vital as so many men were
being called up into the military.

In August 1940, only 7,000 women had joined but with the crisis caused by Hitler’s U-
boats, a huge drive went on from this date on to get more women working on the land.
Even Churchill feared that the chaos caused by the U-boats to our supplies from America
would starve out Britain.

The government tried to make out that the work of the WLA was glamorous and adverts
showed it as this. In fact, the work was hard and young women usually worked in isolated
communities. Many lived in years old farm workers cottages without running water,
electricity or gas. Winter, in particular, could be hard especially as the women had to
break up the soil by hand ready for sowing. However, many of the women ate well as
there was a plentiful supply of wild animals in the countryside - rabbit, hares, pheasant
and partridges. They were paid 32 shillings a week - about £1.60.

WLA women sawing wood in winter

In 1943, the shortages of women in the factories and on land lead to the government
stopping women joining the armed forces. They were given a choice of either working on
the land or in factories. Those who worked on land did a very valuable job for the British
people.

Factory Work:

Many women decided that they would work in a factory. They worked in all manner of
production ranging from making ammunition to uniforms to aero planes. The hours they
worked were long and some women had to move to where the factories were. Those who
moved away were paid more.

Skilled women could earn £2.15 a week. To them this must have seemed a lot. But men
doing the same work were paid more. In fact, it was not unknown for unskilled men to
get more money those skilled female workers. This clearly was not acceptable and in
1943, women at the Rolls Royce factory in Glasgow went on strike. This was seen as
being highly unpatriotic in time of war and when the female strikers went on a street
demonstration in Glasgow, they were pelted with eggs and tomatoes (presumably rotten
and inedible as rationing was still in) but the protesters soon stopped when they found out
how little the women were being paid .The women had a part-victory as they returned to
work on the pay of a male semi-skilled worker - not the level of a male skilled worker but
better than before the strike.

The Women's Voluntary Service (WVS):

During the Blitz on London women in voluntary organizations did a very important job.
The Women’s Voluntary Service provided fire fighters with tea and refreshments when
the clear-up took place after a bombing raid. The WVS had one million members by
1943. Most were quite elderly as the younger women were in the factories or working on
farms and were too exhausted to do extra work once they had finished their shift. The
WVS also provided tea and refreshments for those who sheltered in the Underground in
London. Basically, the WVS did whatever was needed. In Portsmouth, they collected
enough scrap metal to fill four railway carriages……..in just one month. They also
looked after people who had lost their homes from Germans bombing - the support they
provided for these shocked people who had lost everything was incalculable. When the
WVS were not on call, they knitted socks, balaclavas etc. for service men. Some WVS
groups adopted a sailor to provide him with warm knitted clothing.

A WVS tea van at a bomb site

The Auxiliary Territorial Service:

In the military, all three services were open for women to join - the army, air force and
navy. Women were also appointed as air raid wardens.

In the army, women joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). Like soldiers, they
wore a khaki uniform. The recruiting posters were glamorous - some were considered too
glamorous by Winston Churchill - and many young ladies joined the ATS because they
believed they would lead a life of glamour. They were to be disappointed. Members of
the ATS did not get the glamour jobs - they acted as drivers, worked in mess halls where
many had to peel potatoes, acted cleaners and they worked on anti-aircraft guns. But an
order by Winston Churchill forbade ATS ladies from actually firing an AA gun as he felt
that they would not be able to cope with the knowledge that they might have shot down
and killed young German men. His attitude was odd as ATS ladies were allowed to track
a plane, fuse the shells and be there when the firing cord was pulled……By July 1942,
the ATS had 217,000 women in it. As the war dragged on, women in the ATS were
allowed to do more exciting jobs such as become welders (unheard of in ‘civvies’ street),
carpenters, electricians etc.
The recruiting poster for the ATS banned
by Churchill

The Women's Auxiliary Air Force:

Women who joined the Royal Air Force were in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
(WAAF). They did the same as the ATS (cooking, clerical work etc) but the opportunities
were there for slightly more exciting work. Some got to work on Spitfires. Others were
used in the new radar stations used to track incoming enemy bomber formations. These
radar sites were usually the first target for Stuka dive-bombers so a post in one of these
radar stations could be very dangerous. However, the women in these units were to be the
early warning ears and eyes of the RAF during the Battle of Britain. For all of this,
women were not allowed to train to be pilots of war planes. Some were members of the
Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) which flew RAF planes from a factory to a fighter
squadron’s base. There were 120 women in this unit out of 820 pilots in total. The
women had fewer crashes than male pilots but they were not welcome as the editor of the
magazine "Aero plane" made clear: they (women ATA) "do not have the intelligence to
scrub the floor of a hospital properly." He, C.G. Grey, claimed that they were a "menace"
when flying.

Secret Agents:

Women were also used as secret agents. They were members of SOE (Special Operations
Executive) and were usually parachuted into occupied France or landed in special
Lysander planes. Their work was exceptionally dangerous as just one slip could lead to
capture, torture and death. Their work was to find out all that they could to support the
Allies for the planned landings in Normandy in June 1944. The most famous female SOE
members were Violette Szabo and Odette Churchill. Both were awarded the George
Cross for the work they did - the George Cross is the highest bravery award that a civilian
can get. Both were captured and tortured. Violette Szabo was murdered by the Gestapo
hile Odette Churchill survived the war.

Entertainment:

Women were also extremely important in entertainment. The two most famous female
entertainer of the war were Vera Lynn (now Dame Vera Lynn) and Gracie Fields. Vera
Lynn's singing ("There'll be blue birds over the White Cliffs of Dover" and "We’ll meet
again, don’t know where, don’t know when") brought great happiness to many in Britain.
She was known as the "Forces Sweetheart". Gracie Fields was another favorite with the
forces.

1945:

The war in Europe ended in May 1945. At this time there were 460,000 women in the
military and over 6.5 million in civilian war work. Without their contribution, our war
effort would have been severely weakened and it is probable that we would not have been
able to fight to our greatest might without the input from women. Ironically, in Nazi
Germany, Hitler had forbidden German women to work in German weapons factories as
he felt that a woman’s place was at home. His most senior industry advisor, Albert Speer,
pleaded with Hitler to let him use German female workers but right up to the end, Hitler
refused. Hitler was happy for captured foreign women to work as slaves in his war
factories but not German. Many of these slave workers, male and female, deliberately
sabotaged the work that they did - so in their own way they helped the war effort of the
Allies.

President Franklin Roosevelt had been assistant aecretary of the Navy under President
Woodrow Wilson during World War One. He remembered how American troops were not
ready for that war. Now that he was president, Roosevelt wanted to be sure that the United
States would be ready when it had to fight.

Throughout nineteen forty-one, Roosevelt urged American industries to produce more


arms and military goods. And he established new government agencies to work with
private industry to increase arms production.

Some business leaders resisted Roosevelt's efforts. They felt there was no need to
produce more arms while the United States was still at peace. But many others
cooperated. And by the time Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the American economy was
producing millions of guns and other weapons.

VOICE ONE:

This still was not enough to fight a war. After the Japanese attack, Roosevelt increased his
demands on American industry. He called for sixty thousand war planes, forty-five
thousand tanks, and twenty thousand anti-aircraft guns. And he wanted all these within
one year.

One month after the Pearl Harbor raid, Roosevelt organized a special committee to direct
this military production. He created another group to help companies find men and women
for defense work. And he established a new office where the nation's best scientists and
engineers could work together to design new weapons.

These new government organizations faced several problems. Sometimes factories


produced too much of one product and not enough of another. Sometimes tools broke. And
some business owners refused to accept government orders. But the weapons were
produced. American troops soon had the guns and supplies they needed.

VOICE TWO:

The federal government had to expand its own workforce rapidly to meet war needs.
Federal spending increased from just six thousand million dollars in nineteen forty to
eighty-nine thousand million in nineteen forty-four. This was a fifteen hundred percent
increase in just five years.

In fact, total spending by the federal government during the war was twice as much as the
government had spent since its beginning in seventeen eighty-seven.

Roosevelt had to take strong steps to get the money for all this spending. He put limits on
wages. He increased taxes to as high as ninety-four percent of pay. And he asked the
American people to lend money to the federal government. The people answered with
almost one hundred thousand million dollars.

VOICE ONE:

The great increase in public spending raised the threat of economic inflation. There was
much more money in the economy just at the time that factories were producing fewer
goods for people to buy. More money and fewer goods usually makes prices rise rapidly.

Roosevelt was able to prevent this problem by using taxes and borrowing to reduce the
amount of money that people had. But he also created a special office with the power to
control prices. Many Americans agreed with the idea of price controls. But everyone
wanted somebody else's prices controlled, not their own. Federal officials had to work hard
to keep prices and supplies under control. They restricted how much meat and gasoline
and other goods people could buy.

The price control program generally worked. Its success kept the American economy
strong to support the troops fighting in Europe and Asia.

VOICE TWO:

One reason these strong economic steps worked was because the American people fully
supported the war effort. One can look at photographs of people of those times and see in
their faces how strongly they felt.

In one photograph from the state of North Carolina, a group of men are standing in front of
old rubber tires collected from automobiles. They are planning to give the tires to the Army
to be fixed and used for army vehicles.

Another photo shows a woman visiting a hospital. She is singing a song to a soldier to lift
his spirits.
Still another photo shows a man who owns a small food store. He is placing special signs
on his meats and cans of food to tell people how much they are allowed to buy.

VOICE ONE:

Radio cannot show the faces in the pictures. But you can get an idea about their feelings
by the names of some of the popular songs of the period. One of the most famous was
"Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition." Another was "He Is One-Aye in the Army, and
He's One-Aye in My Heart." And one of the most hopeful songs was "When the Lights Go
on Again All Over the World."

VOICE TWO:

Not all Americans supported the war. A small number of persons refused to fight, because
fighting violated their religious beliefs. And a few Americans supported the ideas of Hitler
and other fascists. But almost everyone else supported the war effort. They wanted to win
the war quickly and return to normal life.

Japanese-Americans felt the same way. Many of them served with honor in the military
forces. But many Americans were suspicious of anyone whose family had come from
Japan. They refused to trust even Japanese-American families who lived in the United
States for more than a century.

Banks refused to lend money to Japanese-Americans. Stores would not sell to them. An
American Army general, John Dewitt, spoke for many citizens when he said, "A Japanese
is a Japanese. It makes no difference whether he is an American or not."

The federal government ordered all Japanese-Americans to live in restricted areas for the
rest of the war. Only after the war ended did it release them. Years later, people agreed
that Japanese-Americans had been badly treated.

VOICE ONE:

Another American minority made progress during the war: black Americans. For years,
black American citizens had been kept in low-paying jobs and poor living conditions. But
black leaders spoke out to say it was unfair to fight a war for freedom in Europe while
blacks at home were not as free as white citizens.

In nineteen forty-one, black leader A. Philip Randolph threatened to lead a giant march on
Washington for black rights. President Roosevelt reacted by issuing an order that made it a
crime to deny blacks a chance for jobs in defense industries. He also ordered the armed
forces to change some of their rules for blacks.

Blacks made progress in these government-controlled areas. But most private industries
still refused to give them an equal chance.

Major progress for blacks would come in the years after the war, in the nineteen-fifties and
sixties.

VOICE TWO:
Life was busy during the war years with all the changes in the
economy, business, music, race relations, and other areas.
But in many ways, life continued as it always does.

Americans did what they could during the hard years of


World War Two to keep life as normal as possible. But
almost everyone understood that the first job was to support the troops overseas and win
the war.

This strength of purpose at home gave American soldiers the support they needed. And it
also helped President Roosevelt as he negotiated with other world leaders during the
fighting. Diplomacy and foreign relations were extremely complex during the war. That will
be our story next week.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

You have been listening to THE MAKING OF A NATION, a program in Special English by
the Voice of America. Your narrators have been Harry Monroe and Jim Tedder. Our
program was written by David Jarmul. The Voice of America invites you to listen again next
week to THE MAKING OF A NATION.

On December 7th 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. US


citizens feared another attack and war hysteria seized the country.

State representatives put pressure on President Roosevelt to take


action against those of Japanese descent living in the US.

On February 19th 1942 Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066.


Under the terms of the Order, some 120,000 people of Japanese
descent living in the US were removed from their homes and placed
in internment camps. The US justified their action by claiming that
there was a danger of those of Japanese descent spying for the
Japanese. However more than two thirds of those interned were
American citizens and half of them were children. None had ever
shown disloyalty to the nation. In some cases family members were
separated and put in different camps. During the entire war only ten
people were convicted of spying for Japan and these were all
Caucasian.

Life in the camps was hard. Internees had only been allowed to
bring with then a few possessions. In many cases they had been
given just 48 hours to evacuate their homes. Consequently they
were easy prey for fortune hunters who offered them far less than
the market prices for the goods they could not take with them.
"It was really cruel and harsh. To pack and evacuate in forty-eight hours was an
impossibility. Seeing mothers completely bewildered with children crying from want and
peddlers taking advantage and offering prices next to robbery made me feel like murdering
those responsible without the slightest compunction in my heart." Joseph Yoshisuke
Kurihara speaking of the Terminal Island evacuation.

They were housed in barracks and had to use communal areas for
washing, laundry and eating. It was an emotional time for all. "I
remember the soldiers marching us to the Army tank and I looked at their rifles and I was
just terrified because I could see this long knife at the end . . . I thought I was imagining it as
an adult much later . . . I thought it couldn't have been bayonets because we were just little
kids." from "Children of the Camps"

Some internees died from inadequate medical care and the high
level of emotional stress they suffered. Those taken to camps in
desert areas had to cope with extremes of temperature.

The camps were guarded by military personnel and those who


disobeyed the rules, or who were deemed to be troublesome were
sent to the Tule Lake facility located in the California Rocky
Mountains. In 1943 those who refused to take the loyalty oath were
sent to Tula Lake and the camp was renamed a segregation centre.

In 1943 all internees over the age of seventeen were given a loyalty
test. They were asked two questions:

1. Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States
on combat duty wherever ordered? (Females were asked if they
were willing to volunteer for the Army Nurse Corps or Women's
Army Corps.)

2. Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of


America and faithfully defend the United States from any or all
attack by foreign or domestic forces and forswear any form of
allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, to any other
foreign government, power or organization?

In December 1944 Public Proclamation number 21, which became


effective in January 1945, allowed internees to return to their
homes. The effects of internment affected all those involved. Some
saw the camps as concentration camps and a violation of the writ of
Habeas Corpus, others though, saw internment
as a necessary result of Pearl Harbor. At the
end of the war some remained in the US and
rebuilt their lives, others though were
unforgiving and returned to Japan.

With the onset of World War II, numerous challenges


confronted the American people. The government found it
necessary to ration food, gas, and even clothing during that time. Americans were asked
to conserve on everything. With not a single person unaffected by the war, rationing
meant sacrifices for all. In the spring of 1942, the Food Rationing Program was set into
motion. Rationing would deeply affect the American way of life for most. The federal
government needed to control supply and demand. Rationing was introduced to avoid
public anger with shortages and not to allow only the wealthy to purchase commodities.

While industry and commerce were affected, individuals felt the effects more intensely.
People were often required to give up many material goods, but there also was an
increase in employment. Individual efforts evolved into clubs and organizations coming
to terms with the immediate circumstances. Joining together to support and maintain
supply levels for the troops abroad meant making daily adjustments. Their efforts also
included scrap drives, taking factory jobs, goods donations and other similar projects to
assist those on the front. Government-sponsored ads, radio shows, posters and pamphlet
campaigns urged the American people to comply. With a sense of urgency, the
campaigns appealed to America to contribute by whatever means they had, without
complaint. The propaganda was a highly effective tool in reaching the masses.

Rationing regulated the amount of commodities that consumers could obtain. Sugar
rationing took effect in May 1943 with the distribution of "Sugar Buying Cards."
Registration usually took place in local schools. Each family was asked to send only one
member for registration and be prepared to describe all other family members. Coupons
were distributed based on family size, and the coupon book allowed the holder to buy a
specified amount. Possession of a coupon book did not guarantee that sugar would be
available. Americans learned to utilize what they had during rationing time.

While some food items were scarce, others did not require rationing, and Americans
adjusted accordingly. "Red Stamp" rationing covered all meats, butter, fat, and oils, and
with some exceptions, cheese. Each person was allowed a certain amount of points
weekly with expiration dates to consider. "Blue Stamp" rationing covered canned,
bottled, and frozen fruits and vegetables, plus juices and dry beans; and such processed
foods as soups, baby food and catsup. Ration stamps became a kind of currency with
each family being issued a "War Ration Book." Each stamp authorized a purchase of
rationed goods in the quantity and time designated, and the book guaranteed each family
its fair share of goods made scarce, thanks to the war.

Rationing also was determined by a point system. Some grew weary of trying to figure
out what coupon went with which item, or how many points they needed to purchase
them, while some coupons did not require points at all. In addition
to food, rationing encompassed clothing, shoes, coffee, gasoline,
tires, and fuel oil. With each coupon book came specifications and
deadlines. Rationing locations were posted in public view.
Rationing of gas and tires highly depended on the distance to one's
job. If one was fortunate enough to own an automobile and drive at
the then specified speed of 35 mph, one might have a small amount
of gas remaining at the end of the month to visit nearby relatives.

Rationing resulted in one serious side effect: The black market,


where people could buy rationed items on the sly, but at higher
prices. The practice provoked mixed emotions from those who
banded together to conserve as instructed, as opposed to those who
fed the black market's subversion and profiteering. For the most
part, black marketeers dealt in clothing and liquor in Britain, and
meat, sugar and gasoline in the United States.

While life during the war meant daily sacrifice, few complained because they knew it
was the men and women in uniform who were making the greater sacrifice. A poster
released by the Office of War Information stated simply, “Do with less so they’ll have
enough.” And yet another pleaded, “Be patriotic, sign your country’s pledge to save the
food.” On the whole, the American people united in their efforts.

Recycling was born with the government’s encouragement. Saving aluminum cans meant
more ammunition for the soldiers. Economizing initiatives seemed endless as Americans
were urged to conserve and recycle metal, paper and rubber. War bonds and stamps were
sold to provide war funds, and the American people also united through volunteerism.
Communities joined together to hold scrap iron drives, schoolchildren pasted saving
stamps in bond books.

Others planted "Victory Gardens" to conserve food. For a small investment in soil, seed
and time, families could enjoy fresh vegetables for months. By 1945, an estimated 20
million victory gardens produced approximately 40 percent of America's vegetables.

Training sessions were held to teach women to shop wisely, conserve food and plan
nutritious meals, as well as teach them how to can food items. The homemaker planned
family meals within the set limits. The government's pursuading of people to give up
large amounts of red meats and fats resulted in people eating more healthily.

The government also printed a monthly meal-planning guide with recipes and a daily
menu. Good Housekeeping magazine printed a special section for rationed foods in its
1943 cookbook. Numerous national publications also featured articles explaining what
rationing meant to America.

Then there were the food manufacturers who took advantage of the wartime shortages to
flaunt their patriotism to their profit. The familiar blue box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
Dinner gained great popularity as a substitute for meat and dairy products. Two boxes
required only one rationing coupon, which resulted in 80 million boxes sold in 1943.
Food substitutions became evident with real butter being replaced with Oleo margarine.
Cottage cheese took on a new significance as a substitute for meat, with sales exploding
from 110 million pounds in 1930 to 500 million pounds in 1944.

After three years of rationing, World War II came to a welcome end. Rationing, however,
did not end until 1946. Life resumed as normal and the consumption of meat, butter and
sugar inevitably rose. While Americans still live with some of the results of World War
II, rationing has not returned.

Include the bomb making rationing jobs etc.

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