Women at Work During World War II
Between 1940 and 1945, the number of working women in the United States rose dramatically—from 25% to 35% of the national workforce. As millions of men served overseas, women stepped into factories, shipyards, and offices to keep the nation running.
By the end of the war, one in four married women worked outside the home, marking a historic cultural shift. In 1943 alone, nearly 310,000 women were employed in the U.S. aircraft industry, assembling the bombers and fighters that helped win the war.
These pioneering women—often symbolized by Rosie the Riveter—proved that skill, determination, and patriotism knew no gender. Their legacy reshaped the American workforce and laid the foundation for women’s expanded roles in every industry for decades to come.
Annette del Sur publicizing a salvage campaign for the Douglas Aircraft Company
Part of the cowling for for a B-25 bomber is assembled in the engine department of North American Aviation’s Inglewood plant.
C. & N.W. R.R. Cloe Weaver, mother of four children, employed as a helper at the roundhouse, Clinton, Iowa.
Rosie Taking a Coffee Break
Frances Eggleston,23, from Oklahoma working on the nose of an airplane.
Mary Louise Stepan, 21, used to be a waitress. She has a brother in the Army Air Corps. She is working on parts in the hand mill.
Operating a hand drill at Vaultee-Nashville, woman is working on a Vaultee Vengeance dive bomber at the Nashville Tennessee plant.
Rosie the Riveter hard at work.
Pearl Harbor Widows, October 1942
Rosie the Riveter working on a Consolidated B-24 bomber, Consolidated Aircraft Corp., Fort Worth, Texas.
Women workers, working on a Radial Engine
Rosie working on an radial engines at North American Aviation, Inc., plant in California.
Rosie having lunch on their lunch break.
Rosie riveting the tail section of an airplane.
Tail section quality control.
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