The first book to examine the impact of World War II on the roles of women in an individual state
 
Covers the experience of both black and white Alabama women as defense workers, volunteers, and homemakers. The most important change for women during the war years was their employment in jobs normally held by men, which posed an implicit challenge to traditional notions about femininity and female limitations.
 
Thomas describes the women employed in the defense industries—how they were recruited and trained, where they worked and under what conditions, and what changes employers made in the workplace to accommodate women, She also discusses the experience of the women who served as volunteers in the Ground Observer Corps, the Citizens’ Service Corps, the Red Cross, and other volunteer agencies. In addition, the author considers how homemakers coped during a time of rationing, housing shortages, lack of schools, and inadequate medical facilities.
 

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Mary Martha Thomas is Professor of History, JacksonvilleStateUniversity.

“Delightfully titled, well researched and written, [this book] covers the mobilization’s effects on life in Alabama, how women were recruited and trained, the kinds of defense jobs they acquired, how the companies, the public and women themselves adjusted to wartime developments, and the kind of volunteer activities the women did.”
—American Historical Review