Whether it was by volunteering on the home front, serving in the military or working on production lines, women were definitely Americas secret weapon during World War II. Before the Second World War, women were viewed mainly as wives and mothers. But during the war, that all changed. See how in Women in World War II, a special collection of 12 National Archives films, including one featuring Eleanor Roosevelt in color!
It began with Rosie the Riveter, the iconic image of the young woman in a headscarf and overalls who, along with her real-life contemporaries, stepped onto factory lines across America to produce the machinery of World War II. But it didn t stop there; Army nurses, WAACs...for the first time 'a womans place became the workplace and the social revolution that demanded career opportunities for women was born.
From the vaults of the National Archives now come the priceless films that chronicled the war years and the working lives of these patriotic and determined women.
Marcia Kolko, Archives Specialist, Motion Picture, Sound, and Video Office, National Archives and Records Administration
National Archives Films
Women in Defense - 1941
Woman Power - 1942
Glamour Girls of 1943
Women of Steel - 1943
Training Women for War Productions 1942 IN COLOR!
It s Your War, Too - 1944
The Hidden Army - 1944
No Exceptions - 1943
Night Shift - 1942
We re in the Army Now - 1943
The Army Nurse - 1945
Women in Combat 1993 IN COLOR!
Product Features
Priceless films from the National Archives
Includes Eleanor Roosevelt in a color film, and commentary by Katharine Hepburn!
Footage of army nurses working in field hospitals and nurses who were prisoners of war
Films show women working in steel factories, on airplane motors, tanks and more
See how women were the secret weapon that helped defeat the Nazis
Watch women workers on a typical night shift at a British gun factory
Product details
Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
Director : National Archives
Media Format : Multiple Formats, Color, NTSC
Run time : 2 hours and 38 minutes
Release date : November 5, 2013
Actors : Eleanor Roosevelt, Katharine Hepburn
Studio : Topics Entertainment
Number of discs : 1