From Suffragette to War Worker: Stories of Women War Workers at Raytheon 1941-45

This talk spans the 100-year fight for women’s rights, beginning with the Suffragette movement and the passing of the 19^th Amendment in 1920.  It moves on to the great stock market crash on Black Monday in 1929, and the New Deal as a response to the Great Depression under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, before focusing on America’s entry into World War II in 1941.  Suddenly, war plants all over America needed female workers. Here in Massachusetts, Raytheon aggressively advertised for women workers with recruitment posters, newspapers, and radio ads. Soon, thousands of women were performing all types of electronic component production and assembly work, from radar to radio tubes. At the insistence of Eleanor Roosevelt, the ranks of the military and other professions, including Civil Defense, Red Cross, etc. became open to women.  At war’s end on September 2, 1945, tens of thousands of women were immediately laid off.  Many women, however, found newly earned access to jobs once held by men. Women workers had now become the new consumer demographic.

Presented by Chet Michalak, Principal Technical Support Engineer, Archivist and Historian, Raytheon Company, US Army veteran.

Social Hour 12:45-1:15 pm, Program at 1:15 pm

To participate by Zoom, get Zoom link at LexVets Website lexmavets.com.