Candles from the Whiting candle factory in America gave jobs to thousands of American women during the great depression. Over 75 percent of all candles made at the Whiting Factory were designed for `military purposes. They served as temporary lighting, to read by and to activate emergency drills, they were also used when melted as a sealant for ripped tents. .
The factories showed a great turn around in other countries as well. Scotland employed over 11,000 women into the national cordite factory. The factories hired women to keep them from undesirable temptations elsewhere since their husbands were all off to war. The women benefited from this greatly as it was their first socially accepted independence. The women worked very long hours but were proud to be able to help out with the war in as many ways as possible. This was an opportunity for women to grow and learn the job skills that they were never allowed to do. The war created employment for women, liberating them, while changing their traditional roles. Problems surfaced with the introduction of women workers, who's growing influence threatened the men workers still in the United States. They responded with harassment and discrimination, which remained a problem even after the war was over. Even though women outnumbered the men in the labor force three to one they still had problems with the new idea of women as wage laborers. The war had allowed women to get "out of hand" or "out of house". The liberated woman might be undermining the traditional marriage and family life. Some women started working as young as fourteen or fifteen but were pleased with the new opportunities to use their hand and skills. Rosie the Riveter was poster of encouragement for women to join the workforce during the women's industry movement. The poster showed women's hidden strengths, promoting power and pride. The women that volunteered in factory jobs worked in welding, machining, building aircraft's, fixing tanks, and armament factories, jobs once held by men who were called away to fight in the war.
