World War II Homefront Era: 1940s: Women Replace Men in the Workforce
Click image to zoom in.Or view larger version. Untitled. December 7,1942. Unknown photographer. Gelatin silver print. Collection of Oakland Museum of California. The Oakland Tribune Collection. Gift of Alameda Newspaper Group.
This is a photograph of two women in the process of registering for a defense class sponsored by the AWVS. The AWVS was a wartime women’s voluntary organization founded in 1940 by Mrs Alice McLean, who modeled her new organization on the Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS) of Britain. It was declared to be "non-partsian, non-political and open to all women irrespective of race or religion provided they were loyal to the principles of the Government of the U.S." Members carried out a wide range of tasks that included motor corps, war savings work, childcare for mother’s doing war work, mending/repair, office and clerical work.