I. Introduction
a. When and how did the war start?
b. Why did the U.S. use women to fight in the war? How many women worked before the war? How many now went to work? What did they do?
c. According to the women interviewed, what aspects of working in the war were good for them? What aspects were bad?
d. In what ways did they suffer?
e. Although only five women were interviewed in this document, many of their stories likely represent what millions of other women also experienced
II. Education and the war
a. What did these women study before the war—in high school, and in college?
i. Does it appear that going to college at the time was rare for women, or common? [Find out with research on the internet. What percentage of young women in the 1930s went to college?]
b. How did the war affect their education?
i. How was the time to get an education shortened because of the war?
ii. What work did the women now prepare for?
iii. How were they now trained?
c. Was their wartime training usual for that time period?
III. Jobs
a. What were the various jobs these women did in the war, according to this document?
i. What jobs did college educated women take?
ii. What jobs did women with a high school education take?
b. Working conditions
i. Discuss the amount of time women worked; discuss how tired they were
ii. How were women pressured to work long hours?
iii. What was their income like?
iv. Did they experience sexual harassment? How? What did the women do to try to avoid this harassment?
a. How did their supervisors react to complaints of sexual harassment? Were these women’s complaints taken seriously?
b. Based on what you know, was sexual harassment on the job, and the authorities ignoring it, common at that time for women in the workforce?
IV. Hardships
a. Rationing: What was rationed during the war? Why were these things rationed?
b. Deaths of friends and family: did any friends or family of any of these women die in the war? Did that make them feel any differently about the war?
V. Propaganda
a. Did the government, or did Hollywood or any other group or institution, create propaganda during the war? Why? What was it?
b. How did one or more women in the document respond to this propaganda? Why did they feel that way?
VI. Tired of the war
a. Did any of these women get tired of the war, over the years? Why?
VII. Reaction to working by the end of the war
a. how did one or more of these women feel about the fact that they worked during the war? How did working make them feel? Did it change one or more of them? How?
b. How did others view the idea of these working? Were they fired after the war? Why? What does that show about society at that time?
VIII. Conclusion
a. Why is this document important for showing us what it was like for some women to work during the war?
b. How did the lives of these women change after the war started?
c. What were the good things that happened to one or more of these women because of the war?
d. What were the bad things that happened to one or more of these women?
e. Did their view of themselves change, because of the war? How and why?
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