World War II changed how women saw themselves in relationship to the work force. With the draft siphoning off able-bodied men to serve in the military, there was a labor shortage in the defense industries that supplied all of the things needed in war. One of those things that was needed was ships and the Kaiser Shipyards in Vancouver, Washington, helped to supply ships. Prior to the War, Kaiser Shipyards employed only a few hundred women, all of them as office workers. With the War, Kaiser began to advertise for women welders, an occupation which had previously been considered a male profession. By 1944, more than 10,000 women were working at the Vancouver shipyards. Many of them held journeymen-level positions which had once only been available to men.
According to a history sign near the old shipyard:
“Most female employees labored under the double burden of balancing work and home responsibilities, made more difficult by rationing, lack of childcare, and other challenges. After the war, they had to reconcile a return to domestic life with the upheaval of traditional roles they had experienced during the intervening years. Regardless of the choices made by each individual woman, their response to homefront needs had changed the country’s social landscape forever.”
Shown above is the iconic photograph of “Wendy the Welder.”
According to another history sign:
“For the first time in local history, women found themselves working beside men as equals, doing the same jobs and getting the same pay.”
To acquire the welding skills needed for shipbuilding, newly hired women were sent to school to learn the basics. Then they were outfitted in leather protective clothing and a welding hood. They started to work on the graveyard shift.
Of the 38,000 workers employed at the Kaiser Shipyard in Vancouver at the height of the war, it is estimated than 10,000 were women.
Hilda Taylor went from working as a waitress to becoming a welder at the shipyard. She went to school to learn to weld flat, vertical, horizontal, and overhead. Then she went to work at the shipyard for $1.20 per hour. She recalls:
“There were lots of women welders. We were called welderettes.”
After the war, Taylor did not continue in the welding profession.
Marjorie Bickford started work at the Vancouver shipyard as a messenger, riding a motorscooter from one building to another.
Wendy Rose
On the Vancouver waterfront today, near the location of the old shipyards, there is a stainless steel sculpture known as Wendy Rose which celebrates the spirit and legacy of the women workers of World War II. Wearing a red glass polka dot scarf, Wendy Rose is stepping from the home into the industrial world and into the future.