World War II changed the lives of women and men in many ways. Wartime needs increased labor demands for both male and female workers, heightened domestic hardships and responsibilities, and intensified pressures for Americans to conform to social and cultural norms. All of these changes led Americans to rethink their ideas about gender, about how women and men should behave and look, what qualities they should exhibit, and what roles they should assume in their families and communities.
Wartime gender changes for women are encapsulated by one of the most popular icons of the war, Rosie the Riveter. For many Americans, Rosie is a strong and self-assured woman rolling up her denim shirtsleeve to reveal her right bicep as she confidently exclaims “We Can Do It!” She was one of 19 million women who worked for wages during the war, five million of them for the first time. More married women than single women participated in the workforce during World War II; many of them were mothers. The federal government and wartime industries insisted that these women were key to victory, but working women presented several challenges to most understandings Americans had of the proper roles of women and men.
