Women of today's society hold positions of importance in their jobs. Women in World War II contributed to the women today having jobs. Before the war women were viewed as just housewives. World War II caused a change of the living status of American women. Women went from being housewives to working hard and being a major help during and after the war.
Women took jobs to build airplanes for their husbands to use in the war. Five million women entered the work force, and made up 36 percent of the American labor force (Sinnot 13). Thousands of women took jobs in airplane factories. They assembled tens of thousands of military airplanes needed in the war effort ("American Women in WWII" 391). Some aircraft plants were as big as small towns, and the noise of production was deafening. The women's muscles became sore, their hands were swollen, and they got backaches and headaches. Many women had trouble sleeping because the noise continued to throb throughout their bodies, even when they were at home. The women went through many pains, but did their best and made thousands of airplanes that helped in the war. .
Women also helped make ships to use in the war. Shipyards were accustomed to a male workforce, and were slow to accept the women workers. In 1943 there was a demand for 1.5 million workers, so the shipyards were forced to hire women (Sinnot 33). The women found that building a ship wasn't that difficult because of their previous skills with assembling airplanes. They found a similarity between cutting out patters for clothes and for ships; the only difference was they were using steel rather than cloth. The women also excelled at welding, operating drill presses, grinders, and lathes. Shipyard workers were open to many dangers as they worked. They were exposed to the natural elements as they worked on the edge of the water. Some women had to climb high scaffoldings to complete their rivets, and could fall to the concrete below.