In World War I, women served in the Army nurse corps, but could not enlist in the Army.
It was only because of severe personnel shortages that the War Department, with some
reluctance, allowed Army posts to hire women for civilian positions (Holm, 1992:13-14). Late
in 1940, as the war in Europe led to the reinstitution of male conscription, many women’s
organizations began lobbying for women to be a part of the mobilization. Congresswoman Edith
Nourse Rogers, who had tried to gain benefits for the women who served overseas in World War
I without military status, introduced legislation in May of 1941 to open the Army to women.
After negotiation with the War Department, the resulting law, which finally passed in May of
1942 created an auxiliary corps for women, the WAAC. The auxiliary status caused a variety of
problems and, in 1943, the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corp became the Women’s Army Corp
(WAC).
The Army initially planned to recruit 12,000 women the first year and reach a maximum
strength of 25,000 within two years, but there was an immediate rush to enlist and field
commanders and agencies began requesting thousands of women, so the Army made quick plans
to expand the program and even envisioned an eventual women’s force of 1.5 million, an
unrealistic goal that would hurt the program (ibid.:30). With new civilian employment
opportunities for women rapidly expanding and widespread resistance to women’s participation
in the military among both women and men, there was no way the Army could recruit so many
women without conscripting them (ibid.:46). The WAAC/WAC was plagued with problems,
from its initial auxiliary status, to inappropriate recruiting practices (hostile male recruiters
stationed in recruiting offices in the worst areas of cities [ibid.:48]), to poorly designed and badly
stocked uniforms, to a vicious slander campaign against the WACs, waged mainly by US troops.
The Women’s Army Corp was created with the idea that women would serve in a limited
number of roles that were customarily filled by women in the civilian sector, such as clerical and
administrative work. As manpower shortages increased, women began filling roles that had
previously been considered unsuitable, such as radio operator and repairman, gunner instructor,
parachute rigger, and engine mechanic (ibid.:60). By the summer of 1945, there were about
100,000 WACs in uniform (and 57,000 Army nurses); virtually all of them were demobilized at
the end of the war.
Looking ahead to a future conflict in which the US might once again need to
mobilize women, in 1948, Congress passed the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, which
allowed women to serve in the active peacetime forces, but limited their numbers to no more
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Convention