American Women During WWII; Change

     During WWII, American women often went to work in factories building ships and planes, while the men were off fighting.  In those days, women did not join the army like they can now, and men were drafted.  I think it helped to pass the time while the men were gone, especially for married or engaged women, but it also gave them a sense of purpose, doing their part for the war.  It was hard work, dangerous, and dirty.
     It was a time of change in terms of American culture.  Women who would have been teetotalers, began to smoke and drink, hang out in clubs, but most importantly working was a part of the women's movement which came later.  Women need a sense of purpose, to find themselves, to do their part and to invent themselves.  I know, since I am a woman.
     I asked my mother who is from that time, if she remembers women going to work in the factories.  She did, but she was in college at the time.  I told her I thought that my grandmother, her mother, was more the type that would have done that if it had been the case when Grandpa went to WWI.  She agreed with me.  Grandma was head of the Jewish War Veterans Wives after WWI, and also had much to do with the establishment of Brandeis University being established.  She had come from Latvia at the age of thirteen, spoke Russian, German, Polish, Yiddish and Latvian when she came, then learned English and became an officer manager as a teenager.
     During WWII, Americans, even those serving in the army, had no idea what was happening in the camps in Europe, where people were being killed unlike the internment camps F.D.R. had the Japanese in here.  People were shocked when it was all revealed, and soldiers did not even know until they freed the camps.
     My mother did say that she applied to one of those factories, but she did not take the job.  I think those days were a fascinating time.