Pre-WWII Jobs for Women

Feb 23, 2012

Pre-WWII Jobs for Women

A great many women worked in offices, as secretaries, typists, bookkeepers, receptionists etc. They worked in shops, as sales clerks, buyers etc. Teaching and nursing were popular jobs for women. Many librarians were women. There were some women doctors and lawyers, but not nearly as many as there are now.

A lot of women worked as seamstresses, sewing clothes, and many worked in laundries. Women were waitresses in restaurants, and chambermaids in hotels. Many worked in factories. Textile factories in particular had always been large employers of women since the Industrial revolution mechanised textile production.

There were still quite a lot of women working as servants in the 1930s and 40s,in the USA this was a particularly common occupation for black women.

In the late 1930s-early 1940s, worked as telephone operators. This was a job usually done by women, thousands worked as telephonists. Others worked as a shop assistant (sales clerk) in a large department stores.  These were fairly typical of the types of jobs done by middle class girls in the 30s and 40s.

Where most young women in America got married at young ages, it was not that common in other countries.