March 23, 2018 Hello ,
Rosie the Riveter received her due at celebrations around the nation this week.
March 21st was the second annual national day of recognition for women who went to work on the American home front during World War II. Nineteen-year-old Kay Morrison joined the boilermakers' union in 1943 and went to work in a California shipyard as a journeyman welder.
Gathering with other surviving "Rosies" at Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park, in Redmond, CA, Kay told a reporter she loved welding and gave it a feminine touch.
“It was incredibly precise," Kay says. “It was kind
of like embroidery, almost. The women always made the most beautiful welds. The men’s welds might have been just as strong, but they weren’t as pretty.” Above: Marian Sousa (left), 92, was an engineer draftswoman; Kay Morrison (center), 94; and Josephine Lico, 103, operated a computer at an IBM
center. Welder Connie Rangel Gomez, 94, at left, is one of five people in her family to go to work in the shipyards in Richmond.
She's proud to say her welding goggles are now on display at the historical park museum.
Sixteen-million women took over the jobs of men who went to war, building ships and airplanes for the military, as well as working many everyday jobs necessary to keep the civilian sector going.
Many families moved long distances to industrial centers in the biggest migration the country had seen. Factory and shipyard towns mushroomed. Richmond, near San Francisco, grew from a population of 24,000 to over 100,000.
Ever wonder who was watching the kids while Rosie the Riverter helped win WWII? Uncle Sam Babysat Dick & Jane It's difficult to imagine today, but seven decades ago, the United States government operated a nationwide, heavily-subsidized childcare
program. In every state but New Mexico, working moms depended on government run daycare. They were funded with a
combination of federal and state money and authorized by Congress by the Lanham Act.
One congressman testified, “You cannot have a contented mother working in a war factory if she is worrying about her children and you cannot have children running wild in the streets without a bad effect on the coming generations.” Many of the three-thousand childcare centers were located near defense production plants. From 1943-1946, they served nearly 600-thousand children, costing upwards of a $1 billion in today’s dollars.
Besides child care, moms working during the war also worried about industrial accidents and injuries. From the beginning of the war in 1941 up to the invasion of Normandy in June 1944, industrial casualties on the home front exceeded military casualties.
This led to improved work
place safety and regulations after the war, and to companies providing their workers better and more affordable health care.
Not so, with childcare. When the war ended, the Lanham nursery schools closed, even though plenty of moms, especially the poor and women of color, still had to
work.
Eleanor Roosevelt was one who spoke up about the need. “The closing of childcare centers throughout the country certainly is bringing to light the fact that these centers were a real
need. Many thought they were purely a war emergency measure. A few of us had an inkling that perhaps they were a need which was constantly with us, but one that we had neglected to face in the past.”
Today, 64 percent of American women with children under the age of six work outside the home. In much of the nation they will spend, on
average, more money a year for their baby's daycare than parents with older kids pay for a year's tuition and fees at the state university.
High childcare costs can force women to leave their jobs, hinder their career success and have helped continue the
long-term earnings gap between women and men.
Too bad a strategy that helped win WWII is considered by many to be
un-American.
There's more to the story of Connie Rangel
Gomez than I mentioned above. While she was working in the Redmond shipyard, her sweetheart was part of the Normandy invasion.
My
Schedule
Pacific Northwest Author Extravaganza If you're in the Tri-Cities area don't miss this! You're sure to meet someone interesting. I'll be there with twenty-four other authors Come by and say hello! Barnes & Noble Columbia Center Kennewick, WA March 24, 2018
United Association for Labor Education National Conference Seattle Airport Hilton April 6,
2018 Friday, 8:30am-10am Until next week... Have you read a great book? Tell me about it. Have a burning question? Let me know. If you know someone who might enjoy
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