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Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps

Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps. By Angelia Roggie. Research Question. What did the women of the WAAC (WAACs) learn about themselves, their career opportunities, and their country as a result of their struggles and service in the army?. FAST Facts. Instated on May 15th, 1942

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Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps

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  1. Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps By Angelia Roggie

  2. Research Question What did the women of the WAAC (WAACs) learn about themselves, their career opportunities, and their country as a result of their struggles and service in the army?

  3. FAST Facts • Instatedon May 15th, 1942 • Included women between the ages of 21 and 44 • WAAC was with army, but not ofit • With growing need and numbers, Roosevelt signed Public Law 689 into law in 1943, making the WAAC into the Women’s Army Corps and officially a part of the United States military.

  4. Recruiting Women

  5. Reasons for joining • Sense of patriotic duty or must step up to the call for their help • Pressure from fathers or family members already in the military • Wanted to learn new skills • Need to be more than a homemaker and advance one’s career

  6. Jobs and mentality • Filled 239 different jobs • Opticians, surgical technicians, surveyors, electricians, radio repairmen, control-tower operators, boiler inspectors, etc. • Described as dedicated, hard-working, great listeners, and fast learners • Some were not happy with clerical jobs, but others saw them as opportunities.

  7. Facing Discrimination • 1943: Slander campaign that painted them as loose, immoral women • People unwilling to break the social constructions of gender roles at the time. • Dirty jokes – compared to dogs • Thought women would abdicate their responsibilities within the home and usurp the male duty of protecting and defending the home and country

  8. Discovering Who they are • Saw how war could impact a generation and change the mentality of a country • Came to understand more about their own lives and what they wanted • Begin to have faith in their abilities and themselves • Changed perception of what a woman could do • New idea of stronger, confident women

  9. Fighting for A Future • WAACs tried to stay in the service and continue the duties they had grown accustomed to, some even hoped for permanent peacetime positions. • Told to go back home and return to domestic duties. Men were returning to take back their roles. • “Protector vs. Protected” paradigm rages on

  10. Continued… • 1948: Truman puts the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act into law • Only allowed 2% to be women though • At this point, women were sticking to their husbands’ wishes and going back to their designated roles.

  11. Conclusions Paved the way for women in the military Set the stage for women fighting for their rights and responsibilities Broke the boundaries of gender stereotypes during a chaotic time Helped bring the soldiers home and made sure men completed their missions, while striving to do more for themselves

  12. Sources “Army & Navy - Hobby’s Army.” TIME, January 17, 1944, 1-6. Accessed October 20, 2012. Munkacsi, Martin. “Waacs & Waves.” Life, March 15, 1943, 72-73. Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps. “My Dear Daughter.” Life, April 5, 1943, 21-22. Abbott, Elizabeth. “Corps Lead Way for Women in the Military.” The Providence Journal, May 27, 2001, 1-4. Accessed September 29, 2012. Anderson, Christopher J. “EDITORIAL.” World War II, May 2006, 1-3. Accessed September 29, 2012.

  13. Sources “BarettLifoff, Judy, and David C. Smith, eds. American Women in a World at War: Contemporary Accounts from World War II. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1997. Fisher, Dianne, Lt. Colonel. “Trail Blazers: U.S. World War II Military Women.” Military Review 75, no. 4 (July/August 1995): 1-6. Accessed September 29, 2012. NassenPoulos, Paula, ed. A Woman’s War Too: U.S. Women in the Military in World War II. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1996. Starbird, Ethel A. When Women First Wore Army Shoes: A First-Person Account of Service as a Member of the Women’s Army Corps during WWII. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, 2010.

  14. THE END

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