"Women with their eyes on the stars": The Women Airforce Service Pilots' fight for recognition, 1939-2016

<p>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</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Campus Only Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

History and Philosophy

Year dc:date.available

2021

Author dc:creator

• Opdycke, Lacey

Contributors dc:contributor

• Steven Ramold, Ph.D, Chair
• Jesse Kauffman, Ph.D.
• John McCurdy, Ph.D.

• History

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.emich.edu/theses/1058

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.emich.edu:theses-2437