Summary

This section begins with the setting July, 1942, and largely describes the creation of the Navy WAVES, Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service. Massachusetts Republican Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers made women in the military her “passion project” and while she began with demanding female presence in the Army, she soon moved on to facilitate female presence in the more conservative Naval branch of the military (159). Mundy describes the primarily sexist complaints about women being allowed in the military, usually lodged by fearful men who felt a woman’s place was in the home. In truth, the creation of the WAVES serves as an even larger gain for women as it expanded the responsibility and benefits of women beyond the role of those who were Army WAACs. The result is that female code breakers are given a choice to enter the service, however, they had...