Officer's identification card, No. 296054, for Mrs. Antoinette Frissell Bacon, photographer for the American Red Cross

War, Women, and Opportunity
World War II opened a new chapter in the lives of Depression-weary Americans. As husbands and fathers, sons and brothers shipped out to fight in Europe and the Pacific, millions of women marched into factories, offices, and military bases to work in paying jobs and in roles reserved for men in peacetime.

Seeds of Change
The Allies' final push in the spring and summer of 1945 brought World War II to a close. With the war's end came social and economic pressure in the United States to return to "normalcy". Actively recruited into "male" careers in wartime, women were expected to make room for returning veterans and male colleagues. The ranks of newswomen thinned out, and seasoned newswomen who had proved their competence faced demotion. By 1968 there were actually fewer female foreign correspondents than in the pre-war years.

Accredited Women Correspondents During World War II