A woman is a substitute, like plastic instead of metal. - War Department brochure

A woman is a substitute, like plastic instead of metal. - War Department brochure

Yesterday afternoon I was driving back from Detroit and got sidetracked by a hobby (I was Chasing Smokestacks ). Anyway today I was reading about the Scioto Munitions Plant in Marion, OH and found this fascinating picture.

There are several layers of fascinating in this picture for me - from the clothing, to the hair to the separation of the white women from the lone black woman.

The plant had a hospital, schools and a church.  

The United States Army acquired by right of eminent domain many farms northeast of Marion in 1942 to construct the Scioto Ordnance Plant, a bomb-making facility. The factory was a major employer in the area and manufactured "goop bombs" and other explosives. This photograph shows the women and man who made up an assembly line. Phyllis Eckard is at the left in the front row. Victoria Lola Seas Thomas is in the front row, second from the left in this 5" by 7" (12.7 by 17.8 cm) photograph. After the United States entered World War II, there was a labor shortage due to the departure of men who enlisted or were drafted into the armed forces. To fill the gap, more than 6 million women became war workers. Those who were involved in the production of military hardware became Women Ordnance Workers, or W.O.W.s. Spurred on by higher wages and a propaganda poster featuring a muscle-bound "Rosie the Riveter" exclaiming "We Can Do It!" millions of American women helped assemble bombs, build tanks, weld hulls, and grease locomotives. Most were married, 60 percent were over 35, and a third had children under 14. On average, women war workers were paid only 60 percent of what men performing the same work were paid. The government insisted that "Rosie the Riveter" was a temporary response to war. "A woman is a substitute" claimed a War Department brochure, "like plastic instead of metal." Indeed, many women lost their high-paying positions after the war.

http://www.ohiomemory.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p267401coll36/id/19900

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scioto_Ordnance_Plant