As explained in previous columns, the US government gave responsibility for industrial mobilization to the War Department, which in turn tasked the Army Service Forces with many oversight and implementation functions.  The original pages of the guide evince the pervasive institutional discrimination that women were forced to confront in their efforts to serve the country.  Such anti-feminine hostility is alluded to or mentioned in several postwar accounts, but often minimized in favor of the patriotic myth of the “greatest generation” harmoniously striving toward Victory in united fashion with gender (and, to a lesser extent, racial) prejudices cast aside.

The actual record, as shown in these pages, more clearly reveal the innate government animosity toward women as a substitute labor force on the home-front.  Despite the overwhelming national defense crisis and resulting dire need for female employees, the Army utilizes portions of its guide to reemphasize prejudicial grievances which further relegate women as a secondary and reluctant choice for employers. 

The officially endorsed prejudices recorded against women (see July II and August I columns) include perceived endangerment of workplace health and efficiency; unique peculiarities in temperament requiring differential treatment and special consideration on the job; difficulties in classifying for the workplace; necessity for job reorganization and rearrangement; shortcomings in attitude; deficiencies in outlook; endurance problems; unsafe operating habits, inability to adjust personal lives while working; other tendencies to cause special problems best avoided by hiring and promoting men instead, and even the inability of most women to comprehend a wartime emergency.

However, the most unfavorable female trait threatening workplace productivity was the purported female propensity toward turnover and absenteeism. This charge against women is repeated throughout the guide. Within the pages reproduced in this column, it again surfaces in Selection and Placement Methods (page 8). Unlike the placement of servicemen during the war -- who were put into training or positions primarily based on intelligence, aptitude and similar tests -- the Army mandates that, in the case of women, “under no circumstances should placement be made upon the basis of test findings alone.”  Instead, “mature woman interviewers” should be used to “disclose through personal interview, home situations” (paragraph 2, 2d) because, as later explained on the same page, “careful selecting and placement can be effective aides in controlling turnover and absenteeism.” 

The Army advises, “it is desirable to use mature women interviewers who are understanding, tactful and skilled in obtaining pertinent information from women applicants” and “particular attention should be given to determining whether or not the applicant has made suitable and fairly permanent arrangements for the care of her children and other dependents before she is selected for a job.”  The unstated but obvious solicitation of “pertinent information” might also include a woman applicant’s preferences in men and other personal matters, as well as the “mature woman’s” assessment of appearance, social attitude and physical suitability.

The remaining three pages are devoted to Training. Industrial department facilities, supervisory training personnel and induction procedures are briefly discussed. The Army male leadership attitude toward women as a distinct sub-group of humans is highlighted by the guide’s admonition, “training of supervisors in the handling of women is important” (page 10).  Nevertheless, the guide incorporates many valuable standardized procedures for training new personnel, including encouragement that “many of the new supervisors will be women” and that “in some installations, women are showing ability as instructors after being trained.”  Such statements bear witness to the progress of American women in their struggle for fair employment during World War II.
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Page 8: Selection and Placement click to enlarge

Page 9: Training: Facilities click to enlarge

Page 10: Training: Personnel click to enlarge

Page 11: Training: Induction click to enlarge