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Ref: MAT2_B07.doc |
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Part B - 7 |
7. Women in War and Gender issues before and after |
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Excerpts & Historical Context: Parallel Lives in perspective |
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Women in
Business WDK: But it was always common for women to have small businesses. Even when I was a kid on the farm, women
went and sold the cream, they sold the eggs.
A lot of farms kept working on the egg money that the women made. And they just sort of forgot that you
know. And it was the same during the
war. How many women were working
during the war. And after their
husbands came home they stopped working.
But as far back as I remember -- it was the same, they made it seem
like women started working up in the '50s or the '60s. And it is not so. There were women schoolteachers as far back
as I can remember. –Wanda Keefe |
Replace
Men During War WDK: Now, when I worked for Look Magazine, the office
manager there was a woman. She was
like head of the payroll department.
And I was her assistant. She
got the job because the man who had the job went into the service. And then she got the job. And a lot of these women that had these
jobs, they gave them up when their husbands came home. And their boyfriends. Because the men needed jobs badly
then. And the women were needed to
raise the children again, you know. –Wanda Keefe |
Interview Abbreviations: JJK
= Jack [John Joseph] Keefe; WDK
= Wanda Davis Keefe; AKK
= Adhiratha Kevin Keefe
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Table of Contents 7. Women in War and Gender issues before and after........................................................... 1 Percent of the Workforce...................................................................................................................................... 1 Stereotype Jobs?................................................................................................................................................... 1 Recruitment for Duration of War.......................................................................................................................... 2 Children work less – Women work more.............................................................................................................. 2 Post War Women with Work & Life Experience............................................................................................... 2 13
Dressmaking & Business lessons
with Marie Santini............................................................................ 3 14
Sewing Club, Circle & friends helping..................................................................................................... 3 Business Evolved out of what doing informally.................................................................................................... 4 With Some Customers Pricing was a challenge...................................................................................................... 4 Juggling Kids and Moterhood with Business........................................................................................................ 4 War changed type of jobs available................................................................................................................... 5 Some Factory work was new................................................................................................................................ 6 |
Many changes associated with War had been underway
long before the War began. The battle for rights for women and civil rights are
two examples. The War experience helped accelerate the process but it did not
alone produce the changes [B07-N01].
Wanda strongly stated that many things had been done before World War
II.
In order to attend to family
responsibilities, women enter and leave the labor force. In 1944 on average 37
% adult women had employment outside the home during a given week. 48 % of all
women worked at some point during the year
Women were present in defense
industries, as welders and riveters, occupations previously reserved for men.
But old stereotypes/constraints persisted and women were mostly hired as helpers,
record keepers and semi skilled laborers. Jeffries notes that riveters &
welders were more the ceiling rather than the norm. As Wanda notes in her
interview, women had already been working before the war and pre war trends for
occupations were followed. However the labor force for office work increased
from 1/5th to 1/4th female. Between 1940 & 1950 white collar work by women
increased 53%, while overall women working only increased 13%. Women, who did
work, later reported that they gained self confidence & knowledge that they
would carry for the rest of their lives. [B07-N02]
Recruitment
drives had stressed that the work was for the duration of the War. Some Women
were asked in a survey to chose an ideal live in 1942. 3/4 of respondents said housewife, 7% said
single with career, 19% said married with career. The focus on family was
reflected by the rising marriage and birth rates during and after the war in
the
During
the 20th century there was a growing preference for wives rather than children
supplementing the family income. This
awareness of the importance of protecting children from the early workplace
demands and contributed to acceptance for women in the workplace.
Wanda tells
of helping to pay her family's debt at hospital during first job. Jack had hesitated
to accept one child's paper route money to pay for appliances, but was
supportive of his wife Wanda having her own business.
During the
war the dynamics of home and family sometimes changed especially when husbands
were away. The household became a place for greater autonomy for woman as they
coped with difficulties. [B07-N04] This greater experience and confidence of
married women may have contributed to a wider acceptance of married men
traveling more as part of their work after the war. Culturally, there now were
more role models, community support systems and shared stories of woman coping
on their own.
Wanda mentioned going into business
with a friend while raising children after the War and the experience they
previously had.
Dressmaking & Business lessons with Marie Santini[excerpt below, for full see jw00se30.rft
para 13] AKK: We were discussing
your different educational experiences, work experience with the hospital,
then in Whitehorse, and Look Magazine. We didn't discuss when you decided to go into business with
Marie [Santini –Wanda’s Friend and Neighbor].
I don't think we mentioned that -- WDK: We hadn't gone
up that far. AKK: How old were
you at that time? How many kids had
you had by then? WDK: When we moved
to JJK: 1951.[had 4
children by then] WDK: Right. And I had already been making clothes for
--. AKK: I remember
you made the habits for the nuns too? WDK: Right. That was when I was, still in AKK: I thought
that was for the nuns in WDK: They were in
Merrick, right, right. So it must have been -- just after we moved too. Because they moved to AKK: Had Marie
done that sort of work before? WDK: Marie had
worked in doll factories, dressing dolls.
You know, different things like that.
So we both sort of [had experience]-- |
Wanda explains how her business grew out of an
informal club she had with other women in her neighborhood.
Sewing Club, Circle & friends helping[excerpt below, for full see jw00se30.rft para 14] AKK: You had a sewing club of some
sort. Didn't you meet once a week? WDK: I had that in AKK: Wasn't there something on Alan
drive in WDK: 0h, they still came. They still came, the ones from AKK: Oh, they would drive to get
there? WDK: Oh, yeah, yeah but others joined
us on Alan drive. AKK: Right, but, was it like once a
week? WDK: Yeah once a
week. And if people wanted to bring
their mending, sew buttons on, whenever, you know -- it was a gossip
session. It was a chance to get out. And we helped teach other with what we're
doing. Many drapes for our
houses. And all that. And then it was a few years later, I don't
remember what year was that Marie and I decided to go into (business). Because I was making dresses for
people. I had done it for nothing, you
know, for a long time and then people wanted to pay me for it. So I did it for quite a few friends in |
Wanda eventually had to stop the
business when her sixth Child was born. She comments on the community support
she received for her business from friends as well as from Jack and Al Santini
[her partner’s husband].
Business Evolved out of what doing informally[excerpt below, for full see jw00se30.rft para 14] WDK: And it just so evolved. And then
Marie and I decided to go in together.
And what we did first was we did aprons. We made aprons and then
toaster covers, and oven mitts and all these things to match. And people would come to what we would
have, an apron party. And people would come and order what they would like.
And how they would like it made. And
we did that. Then we got into making
more and more clothes. And I designed
clothes for people. And Marie and I
both sewed. She was a wonderful
seamstress too. And when George [Wanda’s 6th child] was born was
when I quit. That was my sixth. And I just thought it was too much. Because I was having to hire somebody to
help take care of the kids. And Marie
and Al insisted that they should pay for half of that. Because we were doing it together. We were working together. And you know, I had all the kids. She had
two. Then another reason too, then as
I said, I had George and I said this is it.
It is just too much. So Marie
and Al -- AKK: So how long was it that you did
it? WDK: I don't even remember. Maybe Marie (will remember) AKK: So Al was very supportive? WDK: 0h yeah. So was your father. I mean, they thought that was great. So, a lot of our friends were too. |
Wanda shared some of her
business experiences and the skills she needed to develop. One difficult lesson
was the importance of being very clear about pricing for the work performed.
With Some Customers Pricing was a challenge[excerpt below, for full see jw00se30.rft para 14] WDK: But we also found, some of the
people, no matter how little you gave it to them for, it was too much. AKK: But they would only decide that
after they had already taken it? And they didn't want to pay? WDK: "You mean it is that
much?" So I learned to say --.
They would come with material that they wanted made into a suit or they
wanted made into a skirt and all this. And I would say take it to the tailor
and see how much he charges to do it. But lots of time, a lot of things we
did was just taking up hems on skirts and things like that. Repair work and a lot of that. But it was very nice. AKK: But if it was something new, he
tried to give them a sense first of what it would cost. WDK: We learned that. We didn't learn that accidentally. We just found out they thought, "you
know, how much she charged me for this?"
And it would be like hours and hours of work. And they just -- AKK: They didn't
count that? |
Wand experienced competing pressures
of raising children and meeting deadlines for her business.
Juggling Kids and Motherhood with Business[excerpt below, for full see jw00se30.rft para 14] WDK: No. So it can get pretty hairy
too. When you have to have something
finished at a certain time and you are up half the night with the kids. And you are trying to finish the suit. I remember especially one plaid suit, with
the pleated skirt and the pockets and everything on it. We charged her $20 to
make it. And the tailors would have
charged her even in those times, you know, $50 to $60 at least. And she came
back and she said to us that my husband thinks it was too much. Just too expensive. AKK: So was she going to bring it
back or --? WDK: No. AKK: You decided you didn’t need
that business anymore though -- WDK: No, no. Well -- she was a good friend -- who knows,
so you just sort of -- AKK: You say, well, I'm sorry and
tell her how many hours it took to make it. WDK: So when I quit
and Marie did quite a bit on her own, but then she started working
with______, who we bought the freezer from. |
Wand felt that
the small business for women was not such a unique idea att he time.
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Small Businesses for women. [excerpt below, for full see jw00se30.rft
para 15] AKK: Was it that
common then for women to have businesses ? WDK: 0h yeah, oh
yeah. AKK: Small
businesses? WDK: Oh yes. There were always you know, dressmakers and
people that did that. But it was
always common for women to have small businesses. Even when I was a kid on the farm, women
went and sold the cream, they sold the eggs.
A lot of farms kept working on the egg money that the women made. And they just sort of forgot that you
know. And it was the same during the
war. How many women were working during
the war. And after their husbands came
home they stopped working. But as far
back as I remember -- it was the same, they made it seem like women started
working up in the '50s or the '60s. And it is not so. There were women schoolteachers as far back
as I can remember. JJK: 0h yeah
sure. |
Jack and Wanda shared their perceptions
of work opportunities for women and how the type of jobs available for women
changed during WWII.
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[excerpt below, for full see jw00se30.rft
para 15] AKK: But during the
war, it changed the type of fields they could get in? Like Education was
always seen as - like "normal schools" are for women. And dressmaking maybe was seen as woman
could do that. But didn't --? WDK: Yeah, and one
time all the big designers were women.
Now who are all the big designers?
Are men. And I think they -- JJK: All the
teachers were women when I was growing up. WDK: Well -- AKK: There were
quite a few men teachers? WDK: There were men
teachers in my school. Yeah. JJK: There were
many teachers, but the women were in the majority especially in the grammar
school. In high school you had a
mix. Male and female. WDK: In the lower grades. Well, even in high school, in |
Some Factory work was new[excerpt below, for full see jw00se30.rft
para 15] AKK: But what type
of work could women get that was different during the war that they couldn't
before? WDK: In the
factories. AKK: Mostly
factory work WDK: Right,
right. And in the munitions factories. Now my cousin Shirley, worked in Boeing all
those years, making planes. AKK: And did
other industries which used to hire men only, because of the men were going
away, also opened up to women? WDK: Oh, yeah. Oh yeah.
In the offices even. Now, when
I worked for Look Magazine, the office manager there was a woman. She was like head of the payroll
department. And I was her
assistant. She got the job because the
man who had the job went into the service.
And then she got the job. And a
lot of these women that had these jobs, they gave them up when their husbands
came home. And their boyfriends. Because the men needed jobs badly
then. And the women were needed to
raise the children again, you know. AKK: You think it was
a fairly common experience of many people.
It just changed. Because of the war, because of the emergency?. The attitude? Adjusting -- WDK: Yeah |
End Notes – B07
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End Note [EN] Part-Sect-Note |
Author |
Source & Link to Bibliography in Part G |
Abbreviated reference to Source |
Page |
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B07-N01 |
Jeffries, John W.. |
WA |
Pp 007 |
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B07-N02 |
Jeffries, John W.. |
WA |
Pp 095, 096 |
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B07-N03 |
Jeffries, John W.. |
WA |
Pp 094, 101, 102 |
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B07-N04 |
Jeffries, John W.. |
WA |
Pp 105 |