We Can Do It! The Impact of the Campaign for the Participation of the Women in the Labor Market during World War II on the US Economy

The bachelor's thesis examines the impact of the US government campaign We Can Do It! on women's employment and the war and post-war economy of the United States. The theoretical part presents economic theories related to employment and factors influencing women's employment. The practical part is divided into three periods, the period before the World War II, the war years and the impact in the postwar years. It focuses on the comparison of the period before and after the introduction of the campaign. Based on the analysis of the development of macroeconomic variables, the validity of the hypothesis that the campaign, as a tool for increasing women's employment, had major positive impact on the United States war economy and GDP growth is examined. To verify the hypothesis, an analysis of time series of the composition of GDP, a comparison with the pre-war trend of GDP and its components and an analysis of time series of women's employment and women´s labor force participation rate. The hypothesis was rejected based on the analysis performed. Furthermore, the work deals with the research question of whether the campaign had a long-term impact on women's employment or whether it was only a short-term effect. The campaign was able to change society's stereotypical view of women in the labor market. Thanks to this, he started a long-term growing trend of women's employment, which contributed to the post-war prosperity of the United States of America. The work also considers the possible effect of other factors on the increase in female employment. The conclusion of the thesis provides an evaluation of the campaign and recommendations on how a similar campaign could be used to increase the participation of women in technical fields in the Czech Republic.