page_title: Pink-collar worker
section_title: World War I and II
hierarchical_section_title: Pink-collar worker / Background (United States) / World War I and II
caption_attribution_description: English: A U.S. Navy recruiting poster for the Navy Nurse Corps, issued in January 1945.The poster is cropped at the bottom.
context_page_description: A pink-collar worker is someone working in the care-oriented career field or in fields historically considered to be women’s work. This may include jobs in the beauty industry, nursing, social work, teaching, secretarial work, or child care. While these jobs may also be filled by men, they are typically female-dominated and may pay significantly less than white-collar or blue-collar jobs.
context_section_description: World War I sparked a demand for "pink-collar jobs" as the military needed personnel to type letters, answer phones, and perform other secretarial tasks. One thousand women worked for the U.S. Navy as stenographers, clerks, and telephone operators.
  In addition, Military nurses, an already "feminized" and accepted profession for women, expanded during wartime. In 1917, Louisa Lee Schuyler opened the Bellevue Hospital School of Nursing, which was the first to train women as professional nurses. After completing training, female nurses worked in hospitals or more predominantly in field tents.
  World War II marked the emergence of large numbers of women working domestically in industrial jobs to assist in the war effort as directed under the War Manpower Commission which recruited women to fill war manufacturing jobs.
  Notably, American women in World War II joined the armed services and were stationed domestically and abroad through participation in non combat military roles and as medical personnel. One thousand female pilots joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots, one hundred and forty thousand women joined the Women's Army Corps and one hundred thousand women joined the U.S. Navy as nurses through WAVES in addition to administrative staff.
caption: A U.S. Navy recruiting poster from World War II, showing an officer of the Navy WAVES before a hospital ship
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