![]() The need for women in factories was so essential for war production that the United States Government’s Department of Labor created the Women in Industry Service (WIS) in 1918. Women inspecting Colt pistols during World War 1. Yet many women faced discrimination on the job as they were often paid less for equal work and a large number of men saw women in their workplace as a threat to their own job security. In fact, the government’s Employment Bureau encouraged women to seek employment in factories. This drove companies to hire an ever-increasing number of women in what was considered a male-dominated job. ![]() Considering that the state was critical to war production, 54% of all ammunition for the United States military was produced in the state it became difficult to meet the increased demand for war production while so many able factory workers were being sent to fight in the military. This census included the number of men that would be able to fight in the United States military. A draft was instituted in the United States in 1917 and Connecticut quickly provided a war time census for the government. These women were usually young with most being under the age of thirty. The number of women in factories had increased by 105% because thousands of men were leaving Connecticut to fight in Europe. By 1917 the number of people in Connecticut employed in a factory had increased to 355,994 with 86,991 being women. ![]() In 1913 there were 169,677 people in Connecticut employed in a factory of this number 43,380 were women. In 1920 the nineteenth amendment gave women the right to vote and the new powers and freedoms that women experienced during World War 1 expanded influence of the Women's Suffrage movement, along with the number of women in it.įerdinando Fasce, An American Family: The Great War and Corporate Culture in America.Īn advertisement encouraging women to work in munitions factories during World War 1.įrom 1914 to 1918 there was a significant increase in the number of people employed in factories in Connecticut. It was not long after the war ended that American women who had tasted the freedom of independence that factory work gave them were given the right to vote. It is not uncommon that the idea of women workers in factories brings a person’s mind to World War II, but it was the Great War that the number of women in factories truly began to increase. ![]() They were expected to produce at the same rate as the men, yet often times they were paid less for the same work. The women shared the same risks as their male counterparts and did the same work. Yet these women did more than just manual labor, they were also involved in production design, lab testing, drafting rooms, warehouse work, and driving trucks. They ran drill presses, did welding, operated cranes, used screw machines, and handled all manner of metal working equipment. There was a significant increase in the number of women employed in factories and these women filled in a number of roles. Once World War 1 began, this started to change. In the early 20th century, factory work was considered a man's job and few women were employed in the field. A female worker at the Colt Factory in Hartford, 1918.
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