Improbable Warriors

The U.S. Navy was first to officially sanction the presence of nonmedical women in the ranks of the armed forces when it recruited a few thousand women volunteers for enlisted yeoman rank—the now well-known Yeoman (F)—during World War I. Less familiar are the many thousands of patriotic women in both secular and religious organizations who mobilized for war work during World War I. Educated, largely middle- and upper-class women (wearing versions of military uniforms) filled a wide range of support roles, some in scientific specialties. During World War II, greater numbers of military and civilian women found opportunities to do scientific work. They, too, have been absent from military history and the history of science. Kathleen Broome Williams is among the first to give a voice to these women

Ancient history · First world war · Navy · Political science · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Work (physics) · World War II · Engineering · Gender Studies · History · Law · Research, Science, and Academia · Twentieth Century Scientific Developments