Women in Baseball The Changing Roles of Women in WW2

Before WW2, women were in traditional roles – wife, mother, homemaker

Women’s roles in the workforce were often limited to nurses, teachers or domestic work

Then an event occurred on Dec 7, 1941 that changed everything

This event signaled the United States’ entry into WW2 President Roosevelt addresses Congress after the attack on Pearl Harbor

Thousands of young men volunteered or were drafted into the service

As time went by, more and more men went into the service But this meant that the men were leaving their jobs to go fight. This started to affect the war industries’ production

FDR encouraged the nation to increase the output for the war effort in his Arsenal for Democracy speech He said we must “discard the notion of “business as usual”

Posters like these helped to encourage women to work- and slowly change the negative attitude towards women working

Women began to enter the workforce in greater numbers, especially in heavy industries

Women soon were working in many different fields Pilots

As more and more men joined the war, women were needed to fill every kind of job From driving taxicabs To driving milk trucks

By 1942, the draft had forced many minor league baseball teams to fold Soon, major league baseball was affected by the numbers of men being drafted

In 1943, Philip K Wrigley was able to get enough backers to start the All American Girls’ Baseball League

Women from highly skilled softball teams from Canada and the US were recruited

Not only did the players have to be highly skilled, their femininity was of utmost importance The players were required to attend charm school and etiquette classes

The players’ uniforms were designed to be ultra-feminine and modeled after figure skaters’ outfits

The league’s popularity peaked in 1948 Ten teams attracted 910,000 paying fans.

Many of the more popular players attracted large followings Dottie Schroeder was the only player to play in the league in all of its seasons

Mary “Bonnie” Baker was featured in Life Magazine

However, the league’s popularity began to decline in the following years Teams began to disband in 1950 Part of the reason for this was the advent of televised Major League Baseball games

The league was finally disbanded in 1954 Organized baseball formally banned women from signing professional contracts with men’s teams in 1952, and the prohibition is still in effect.

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League gave over 600 women athletes the opportunity to play professional baseball and to play it at a level never before attained. The League operated from 1943 to 1954 and represents one of the most unique aspects of our nation's baseball history.

Created by: Margaret Shields and Pamela Jane Leman TAH, Spring 2009