US women's army auxiliary corp (WWII) - Research Paper Example

A Historical Review of the US Women's Army Auxiliary Corp Introduction Women’s participation in the US military as auxiliary army corps during the Second World War was essentially a milestone in the women’s development and gender equality that were rooted the Enlightenment in Europe. Also their participation can be viewed as a sequel to the series of remarkable events in the women’s rights in the United States. Though women’s involvement in the US Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps was not the direct result of these movements, it can be viewed as the call of the situation that provides the women of the era with a unique opportunity to reinforce their position in outdoor workplace. Opposing the traditional socio-religious barriers to and prejudices that women are best suited for indoor activities due to their psychophysical fragility, women’s position in outdoor activities was reinforced by their participation in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corp. Indeed the root of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corp lies in the women’s unarmed services “with the Army under contract and as volunteers during World War I as communications specialists and dietitians” (Bellafiare 4). Subsequently, a bill regarding women’s inclusion into the US Army as regular personnel with equal pay, equal legal protection, disability benefits, pensions and medical care was proposed by Edith Nourse Rogers, the Congresswoman of Massachusetts. But Rogers’ propositions did not go unchallenged since “both the Army and the American public initially had difficulty accepting the concept of women in uniform” (Moore 34). Finally, Rogers’ committee and the US Military authority came to a compromise regarding the women’s legal rights in the army and the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) became existent in 1942 by Public Law 554 () as a branch "for the purpose of making available to the national defense the knowledge, skill, and special training of the women of the nation." (Bellafaire 7). Later, the WAAC gained the full status of an army branch, being converted to Women’s Army Corp (WAC) in 1943. About 150,000 American women “served in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) during World War 11. Members of the WAC were the first women other than nurses to serve within the ranks of the United States Army” (Bellafiare 5). Rights of the WAAC Members Though Rogers’s idea was to provide the women with full status of army personnel in the US Army, due to the novelty of the idea and social barriers and prejudice towards women’s participation in armed activities, the WAAC members did not have the full rights that their male counterpart had enjoyed so far. Rogers was motivated, to propose the bill, mainly by the volunteer female civilians’ participation in the First World War as unofficial auxiliary force to the US force without “benefits of official status” such as legal protection, medical care, shelter, food, etc. So Rogers motive was that “if women were to serve again with the Army in a wartime theater they would receive the same legal protection and benefits as their male counterparts” (Bellafiare 6). Though until 1943, about 150,000 WAAC auxiliaries received the basic provisions of a soldier such as “food, uniforms, living quarters, pay, and medical care” (), rank and salary discriminations continued. Also women WAAC officers could not command men. Judith A. Bellafaire describes these discriminations as following: “The Director of the WAAC was assigned the rank of major. WAAC first, second, and third officers served as the equivalents of captains and lieutenants in the Regular Army, but received less pay than their male counterparts of similar rank” (2). Unlike the male soldiers and other officials, the WAAC members did not get “Government life insurance, veteran’s medical coverage, and death benefits” (Bellafaire 3). Also though the WAAC members, according to the bill, could work oversea, they did not get legal protection of the international prisoner’s laws and agreements. Referring the distance between Rogers’s purpose and its realization through the establishment of the WAAC, Bellafaire says, “Rogers' purpose in introducing the WAAC bill had been to obtain pay, benefits, and protection for women working with the military. While she achieved some of her goals, many compromises had been necessary to get the bill onto the floor” (Bellafaire 4) Reactions to the Concept of Women’s Army Auxiliary Corp Since the idea of women in uniform was bizarre to the US society as the military leaders, Rogers’ proposition to include women as regular army was not seriously considered. Rather the women’s presence in the army was being perceived as a threat to the existing military. So the superstition that women are best suited for indoor activities such as cooking, washing, childrearing, etc and that due to their physical weakness and psychological frailty, women would cause nuisances to the soldiers rather than contributing anything worthy during any wartime. In a physical training manual for the WAC members published in July 1943 by the War Department, the women as soldiers were lightly criticized. A section of the manual described an imaginary fickle-minded women recruit, Josephine Jerk: “Josephine Jerk is a limp number in every outfit who dives into her daily dozen with the crisp vitality of a damp mop.” (WAC Field Manual) Also the manual took it for granted that male performance is the standard to judge a WAC’s performance, as it determines a WAC’s job: “Your Job: To Replace Men. Be Ready To Take Over.” (WAC Field Manual) Rogers’ proposition was fervently opposed by the Congressmen of the conservative southern states. One of the common prejudices against women’s participation in the military among the southerners was that women’s presence in the military would rather deteriorate the sexual morality among the soldiers and the women will became lesbians or prostitute. Also the patriarchal view of sexual segregation of workplace was an influencing barrier to Rogers’ idea. This segregation of women’s workplace from the outdoor activities is evident in one of the Southern Representative’s question: “Who will then do the cooking, the washing, the mending, the humble homey tasks to which every woman has devoted herself; who will nurture the children?” (Bellafaire 12) Women’s Army Auxiliary Corp: Gaining the Momentum Rogers’ bill of women’s full legal status in the army failed to receive serious attention of the related authority as well as military leaders until the Japanese invasion on the Pearl Harbor in December 1941. In the third year of the War, the US military authority began to feel the shortage of manpower since the US Army had to fight a two-front war. First, the army leaders had to supply manpower to the fighting frontline of the war. Secondly, they had to supply lend-lease materials to Allies. In this regard, Bellafaire notes, “political and military leaders, faced with fighting a two-front war….realized that women could supply the additional resources so desperately needed in the military and industrial sectors” (6). The Military authority, upon their decision to expand the war on the Japanese after the attack on the Pearl Harbor, direly felt the shortage of manpower and reconsiders their decision regarding the idea of employing women as auxiliary force to the main-body of the Army. Since training new recruits was economically expensive during the wartime financial crisis, and since it was time-consuming to train men in tiresome jobs like typing and switchboard operation, George Marshal and others shifted their effort to employ the female manpower that was immensely available during the time. The military authority commonly believed that “women were inherently suited to certain critical communications jobs which, while repetitious, demanded high levels of manual dexterity…..men tended to become impatient with such jobs…” (Bellafaire 12). Finally, after fierce debate in the House of Representatives, the bill passed at the 249-86 votes and in the Senate at 38 to 27 votes on 14 May 1942. While signing the bill to make it a law, President Franklin D. Roosevelt set the goal of 25000 members for the WAAC, the fervent response from women as well as from various social organizations all over the country, the number of the WAAC reached as high as 150000 further compelling the leaders to provide the WAAC with the full status of regular Army in 1943. Oveta Culp Hobby’s Contribution to the WAAC The starting of the WAAC was smooth and enthusiastic due to the first WAAC director Oveta Culp Hobby. Before the appointment, Culp Hobby who was the wife of a renowned politician Former Governor of Texas, William P. Hobby, had served as an editor in a Huston daily newspaper. Upon her appointment, the WAAC under her dexterous leadership flourished successfully. She managed to earn massive response from every sector of the US society. The position of the first director in the WAAC needed a woman who had a clear understanding of the socio-political environment as well as the military environment in the War Department. Oveta blissfully had all the qualities that the position required. In this regard, Bellafaire comments, “Most important, the Director of the WAAC had to show a skeptical American public that a woman could be "a lady" and serve as a member of the armed forces at the same time” (Bellafaire 17). Being the wife of a renowned politician and because of being familiar to America’s socioeconomic condition, she correctly guessed what class of the society might respond fervently. She appealed mostly “middle-class America to recruit the skilled clerical workers, teachers, stenographers, and telephone operators needed by the Army” and eventually received notable response. But the WAAC under Oveta’s directorship necessarily had to face the middle class’s narrow view and conservatism. Such middle-class conservatism is evident in a WAAC officer, Early Charity Adams’ speech: "I made a conscientious effort to obtain every item on the list of suggested supplies for training camp except the slacks and shorts. I had never owned either, feeling that I was not the type to wear them." (27) Though Oveta faced the issues and questions from the media and the public, she made controversial comment on the WAAC members’ pregnancy issue. She comments, “Any member of the Corps who becomes pregnant will receive an immediate discharge" (Treadwell 23). Her comment unexpectedly invoked a series of severe criticism among the public as well as the media. In response to Oveta’s comment on the WAAC’s pregnancy, the Times Herald claimed that Oveta’s decision would adversely affect the birth rate of the country, as the newspaper said, "This will hurt us twenty years from now…when we get ready to fight the next war." (Meyer 38) In spite of such controversial decision, Oveta had been able to motivate the public through sincere explanation of women’s role in the WAAC. She successfully conjures up the image of a WAAC in the Army as a homely assistant, of their male counterpart, whose duty is to “noncombatant military job and thus free a man for combat." (Bellafaire 16) Such image of an WAAC in feminine activities while keeping the male intact in the Army, had played a significant role in mitigating the patriarchal opposition of the society. In many public speeches, she frequently elaborated the feminine crust of a WAAC’s job as following: “The gaps our women will fill are in those noncombatant jobs where women's hands and women's hearts fit naturally. WAACs will do the same type of work which women do in civilian life. They will bear the same relation to men of the Army that they bear to the men of the civilian organizations in which they work.” (Bellafaire 16) Conclusion The sequence ‘from the volunteer of World War I to the WAAC in 1942 and then to the WAC in 1943’ is very significant for women’s enrollment into the US Army and their participation in the Second World War. The birth of the WAAC was partly the demand of the time and partly the women’s capability to prove their worth in the military jobs. In many jobs the WAACs and the WACs outweighed their male counterparts. In the face of opposition and doubt, the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corp was established and began to show outstanding performance, it is evident in Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s word "their contributions in efficiency, skill, spirit, and determination are immeasurable" (Treadwell 57). Works Cited Bellafaire, Judith, A. The Women’s Army Corps: A Commemoration. CMH Publication 72-15, 2009 Earley, Charity Adams. One Woman's Army: A Black Officer Remembers the WAC. Texas A&M University Press, 1989 Meyer, Leisa D. Creating GI Jane: Sexuality and Power in the Women's Army Corps During World War II. Columbia University Press, 1992 Moore, Brenda. To Serve My Country, To Serve My Race. New York: New York University Press. 1996 Treadwell, Mattie E. The Women's Army Corps. United States Army in World War II. United States Army Center of Military History. 1991. “W. A. C. Field Manual Physical Training" (FM 35-20). War Department, July 15, 1943. 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