Date Approved
2021
Degree Type
Campus Only Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department or School
History and Philosophy
Committee Member
Steven Ramold, Ph.D, Chair
Committee Member
Jesse Kauffman, Ph.D.
Committee Member
John McCurdy, Ph.D.
Abstract
The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) were a group of 1,102 women trained by the Army Air Forces (AAF) for the purpose of freeing male AAF pilots for combat duties overseas. From the inception of the WASP program in 1943, it was understood that the women would gain a militarized status. However, they were never militarized, and were disbanded in December of 1944. This thesis addresses how the WASP were discriminated against based on their status as women, and how this unjust discrimination impacted their ability to become militarized and gain eventual veterans’ status in the late 1970s. It also aims to widen and expand upon the sparse historiography of the WASP and women’s military history as a whole, provides insight on women’s roles within the armed forces, and the unique struggles they faced, and serves as a new insightful approach to the social history of the Second World War. iii
Recommended Citation
Opdycke, Lacey, ""Women with their eyes on the stars": The Women Airforce Service Pilots' fight for recognition, 1939-2016" (2021). Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations. 1058.
https://commons.emich.edu/theses/1058