How did women join the military in WWII?
Before the U.S. entered WWII, Army and Navy nurses were the only women in the military. In May 1941, Representative Edith Nourse Rogers, Massachusetts, was the first to call for the creation of a women’s military reserve. She said, “The women of this country are being thwarted in their great eagerness to help and share in the national war effort because no national plan for women’s activities has been produced. Consequently this tremendous reservoir of ability and usefulness has, to a great extent, remained untapped and undirected.”
Rep. Nourse Rogers had inspected European field hospitals in World War I and worked with the Red Cross in Washington, DC. Her husband, a Congressional Representative, died in 1925 and she was elected to his seat.
Rep. Nourse Rogers' efforts to create a women's military reserve languished until the attack on Pearl Harbor. Government officials then realized women would be desperately needed for the war effort. Army leaders worked with Nourse Rogers to create a group that “would constitute the least threat to the Army’s existing culture.” Her request was revived as House Resolution 6293 in December 1941. The resolution proposed to create the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) “for the purpose of making available to the national defense when needed the knowledge, skill, and special training of the women of the nation.”
Congress would soon decide whether women should serve in the military. Long and acrimonious debates over the resolution occurred both in the House and Senate. This quote from the Congressional Record is attributed to Congressman Hoffman of Michigan, “Women as a class have not been trained to yield unquestioning obedience to what may seem unnecessary or foolish orders. They, and rightly, have come to expect from all men consideration, respect for their feelings, a yielding to their wishes and desires, consideration not given by men to other men. Take the women into the armed service, in any appreciable number, who then will maintain the home fires; who then will do the cooking, the washing, the mending, the humble, homey tasks to which every woman has devoted herself; who will rear and nurture the children; who will teach them patriotism and loyalty; who will make men of them, so that, when their day comes, they too, may march away to war?”
March 17, 1942—HR 6293 bill passed in the House 249 to 86.
It passed 38 to 27 in the Senate on May 12, 1942.
President Roosevelt signed the bill into law on May 15, 1942.
Recruiting began immediately. Director Culp Hobby traveled the U.S. encouraging women to enlist. The requirements—“good health and character,” 5-6 feet tall, 100-200 pounds, and a high school diploma. The first year over 60,000 women enlisted. In 1943, the WAAC transitioned to full military status and became the Women’s Army Corps (WAC).
There were problems, though. Like social media today, rumors went viral, especially through newspapers. The idea that women would be in the military was so unnerving that all kinds of rumors surfaced. Syndicated columnist John O'Donnell's June 8, 1943 "Capitol Stuff" column did massive damage. That column began, "Contraceptives will be furnished to members of the WACS, according to a super-secret agreement reached by the high ranking officers of the War Department and the WAC chieftain, Mrs. William Pettus Hobby...". The allegations were refuted and the column retracted, but the damage was done.
A rumor circulated that 250 WACS had been sent back from North Africa for immoral behavior. In reality, there were only three—one was married and pregnant, one had gall bladder issues, one was “unsuited to the environment.”
Soldiers warned their sisters and friends that they would be perceived as lesbians or prostitutes if they joined the WACS. And some Army officers explicitly stated that WACS improving soldiers' morale was more important than their official duties.
In a 1944 Gallup Poll, 72% of civilian women surveyed said that Army men had influenced them not to enlist. Female civilian employees resented the WACS for taking away job opportunities. One WAC recruiting officer said many people believed that WACS had deserted husbands and children to consort with male soldiers. Many civilians living near WAC training bases spread rumors that the recruits were heavy drinkers who frequently slept with men.
The real problem was…people were afraid of change.
Creation dates of other military women’s services:
July 30, 1942 Navy WAVES – Women Activated for Voluntary Emergency Service
Nov. 23, 1942 – SPARS – Coast Guard Women’s Reserve
Feb. 13, 1943 – Marine Corps Women’s Reserve
Aug 5, 1943 – WASPS – Women Airforce Service Pilots, a merger of the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron and the Women's Flying Training Detachment.
Statistics
12 million Americans served in the military from 1939-1945
61.2% of men were drafted
350,000 women volunteered