section one


with members of the British Women’s Land Army and saw the impact of their agricultural work. Roosevelt, known for her advo- cacy for women, brought the idea back to the United States as a way for American women to make a meaningful contribution to the war effort. In 1943, Congress created the Women’s Land Army of America (WLAA) and named home economist Florence L. Hall as its head. Te US Women’s Bureau reported that the per- centage of women employed in agriculture rose from 8% in 1940 to 22.4% in 1945.22


Te USDA Extension Service estimated that


between 1943 and 1945, it had placed approximately 1.5 mil- lion non–farm women in farm jobs, and that an equal number of women had been recruited directly by farmers or found farm work on their own during the war.22 In the final year of the WLAA, women continued to answer


their “call to farms,” a common slogan on WLAA posters. In Kansas, 10,000 town women helped farm women with cooking, housework, childcare, gardening, and trucking wheat to elevators. In two Oregon counties, 2,800 workers devoted 21,431 “man” days to harvesting more than 2.5 million pounds of fruits and vegetables.23


Women also worked in defense industries, taking on the jobs of men who had left to fight in the war. Te iconic Rosie the Riveter starred in advertising campaigns recruiting women for these jobs. In addition to its agricultural impact during World War II,


the government helped develop some of today’s popular conve- nience foods including instant coffee, packaged cookies, and energy bars. Food scientists and dietitians played a key role in


36


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