Electrician, South Portland Shipbuilding Corporation, South Portland, Maine, 1943-1945. Courtesy of the Maine Maritime Museum.
Electrician, South Portland Shipbuilding Corporation, South Portland, Maine, 1943-1945. Courtesy of the Maine Maritime Museum.
This image of Virginia Piston O'Toole of South Portland is a recruitment photograph advertising the role of electricians. The shipyards set up training schools for the thousands of new workers entering the workforce. Women electricians at Bath Iron Works learned to perform many jobs, including wiring guns in the turrets on destroyers.
Government and Maine shipbuilders joined together in January 1942 to recruit women to war industry work. Between 1942 and 1943, more than 34,000 Maine women began work in war-related industries. They performed jobs that under different circumstances would be only available to men. They worked in machine shops turning out high precision parts for airplane engines. They worked in factories producing radio parts, and wooden accessories, in addition to the textile and shoe factories where they had long labored.