49 Inspiring Vintage Photos of Extraordinary Women

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Installing Fixtures In A B-17F Bomber (1942)

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While some of us can find it challenging to install a light bulb in our own homes, these women are efficiently installing fixtures and assemblies to a tail fuselage section of a B-17F bomber. There were more women workers at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant in Long Beach, California. These women played a crucial role during World War II, giving their time and skill to the war effort, working in defense plants and war-related organizations. While their fathers, brothers, husbands, or sons fought across the Atlantic and the Pacific, these women took their place in the production line.

Sadly, female workers rarely earned more than half of a man’s wage, and at the end of the war, despite a majority wanting to keep their jobs, many were forced to abandon the workplace and return home. However, something good did happen, and the women’s presence in the war sparked a revolution and became one of the foundations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The law prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, and gender and calls for women to have the same workforce presence that they did during the War.