Women in WWII

In the midst of World War II Concordia College adapted to wartime restrictions and decreasing enrollment.  Due to the military draft the number of male students enrolled dropped, while the number of females attending the college increased dramatically.  Accordingly, Concordia established programs and courses that allowed and encouraged women to contribute to the war effort. 

After the United States entered World War II, colleges across the country feared a decline in enrollment resulting from the draft, which was lowered from age twenty-one to eighteen on November 11, 1942. [1] To address diminished enrollment the American Council on Education met in January 1942, with Concordia’s President Brown in attendance.  The council agreed that higher education would play a crucial role in winning the war by providing specialized training programs for both men and women. [2]

Although enrollment did decline during the war years, the decrease was not as steep as the administration had feared. The number of females attending Concordia increased 45 percent from 1941 – 1944.  Women at Concordia were encouraged to contribute to the war effort in many different ways.  Cobber women gathered to knit mittens to send to Nazi-occupied Norway, volunteered at the Clay County Price and Rationing Board, and met every Tuesday and Thursday evening to fold bandages for the Red Cross. [3]  Female students wrote letters of encouragement and camaraderie to their classmates in the military, which were then compiled in the ‘Dear Joe’ column of the campus newspaper, the Concordian. The newspapers were regularly sent to Cobber servicemen abroad. [4]  

The war affected women’s choice of areas of study.  Dean of Women, Theresa Holt, emphasized the importance of a practical, scientific education for Cobber women that would prepare them for positions in war industries.  She encouraged female students to shift from traditional “feminine” subjects and instead focus on courses that combined scientific and liberal training.  This marked a transition from Concordia’s and the broader society’s stereotypical view of women as future housewives, to considering them as integral members of the wartime workforce.  One of the first women to make this change was Gail Gandrud, a freshman in 1941, who completed the aviation ground instruction course offered at Concordia. This class prepared students to continue pilot training at Hector Airport. [5]

Another student, Jean Ahlness Steibinger, desired to contribute to the war effort from foreign soil.  After her graduation from Concordia in 1943, Steibinger responded to an advertisement for a post at the American embassies in North Africa and eastern Mediterranean. Upon her acceptance to the program, she was transported to Washington D.C. for six months of training with the State Department. [6] By February 1944 Steibinger was assigned to the embassy in Cairo, Egypt. [7] While there she arranged a successful meeting between President Franklin Roosevelt, King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia, King Farouk of Egypt, and Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.  In 1945 she received a commendation letter from the Secretary of State for this work. [8]

Other area colleges encouraged women’s war efforts similar to those at Concordia.  Macalester, a private liberal arts college in St. Paul, Minnesota, also emphasized the importance of technically trained women.  Classes specifically for women were added to the curriculum: Red Cross First Aid, Nutrition, and Canteen Service. [9] Macalester women were also strongly encouraged to become educators.  Dean of Women Margaret Doty insisted that ‘No woman who is seriously and earnestly preparing for teaching need feel that she is serving her country any less that one who is moulding [sic] a bullet.’ [10]

After the surrender of Germany and Japan in 1945, servicemen began returning to the United States in droves.  To compensate for the influx of individuals attempting to enter the workforce, the United States Government instituted the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 – the GI Bill – which offered sixteen million veterans funding to continue their education and training. [11] The 2.2 million veterans who chose to pursue a degree caused enrollment to spike in colleges across the nation. In one year, 1945-1946, enrollment at Concordia doubled, and again there was a nearly equal distribution of male and female students. [12] Things at Concordia did not simply return to as they were before the war, however. The Cobber women had experienced a different role during the war years, one that required knowledge and skills beyond those learned in Home Economics.  Although Florence Kruger’s Home Economics department would remain an important part of Concordia academics for many years to follow, women continued to pursue scientific and preparatory courses as well. [13] The shift from accepted social norms that took place at the college during WWII paved the way for future academic and social reforms for women on campus.

Author: Layne Cole

Footnotes
[1] “Conscription in the United States,” World Heritage Encyclopedia, 2017, accessed on Mar. 21, 2017, http://www.worldlibrary.org/articles/conscription_in_the_united_states.
[2] Carroll Engelhardt, On Firm Foundation Grounded, (Moorhead: Concordia College, 1991), 153.
[3] Ibid., 160.
[4] Vee Thorkelson, “Dear Joe: Mail Call Leads to Coed’s Musings,” Concordian (Moorhead, MN), Oct. 29, 1943.
[5] Ibid., 157, 160.
[6] Jean Ahlness Stebinger, “From Washington to Cairo,” in Cobbers in WWII: Memoirs from the Greatest Generation, ed. James B. Hofrenning (Minneapolis: Luther University Press, 2010), 67.
[7] Ibid., 68.
[8] Ibid., 74.
[9] Jeanne Halgren Kilde, Nature and Revelation: A History of Macalester College (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010), ProQuest ebrary, 176.
[10] Connie Cronon, “Dean Doty Says in Interview - Coeds Are Not Serious Enough,” MacWeekly, Jan. 22, 1943, 2, quoted in Jeanne Halgren Kilde, Nature and Revelation: A History of Macalester College, 178.
[11] Engelhardt, On Firm Foundation Grounded, 165.
[12] “Enrollment,” Concordia College Archives, Last Modified February, 2017, http://concordiacollegearchives.weebly.com/concordia-quick-facts.html.
[13] Engelhardt, On Firm Foundation Grounded, 176.