Society WAVES goodbye: The question of a servicewoman's role after World War II

Abstract

The women who served in the Navy's Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, or WAVES for short, experienced many liberties previously withheld from them, and made great strides towards equality. This was due in part to their service taking place in areas previously held by men. After the war, these hard-earned advances essentially disappeared due to the larger societal desire for women to return to the domestic sphere. The push to move women into the domestic sphere began well before the war ended, and only intensified. In the decade following the end of the war, these women were pushed into low-ranking clerical jobs that were typical for women of the time, and were given no chances for upwards mobility. It wasn't until Second-Wave Feminism and other larger social movements appeared in the 1970's that the advancements originally made by the WAVES were met and then exceeded.