Yeoman (F)

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Yeoman (F) was a rank in the U.S. Naval Reserve in World War I. The first Yeoman (F) was Loretta Perfectus Walsh. At the time, the women were referred to as "yeomanettes" although the official designation was Yeoman (F).

In March, 1917, a Naval secretary took matters into her own hands when she realized that the 1916 Naval law used to create the Naval Reserve used the word "yeoman" instead of "man" or "male". She began enlisting females as Yeoman (F), and in less than a month the Navy officially swore in the first female sailor in U.S. history.

Typically, Yeoman (F), popularly referred to as "yeomanettes", performed clerical duties such as typing, stenography, bookkeeping, accounting, inventory control, and telephone operation. A few became radio operators, electricians, draftsmen, pharmacists, photographers, telegraphers, fingerprint experts, chemists, torpedo assemblers and camouflage designers.

Without new technologies, the Navy would never have had enough jobs to employ 11,274 Yeomanettes. Also, having women in uniform was a positive image for the Navy to portray. As well as their many duties, the Yeomanettes were taught to march and drill at public rallies, recruiting campaigns, war bond drives and troop send-offs.

1 WWAC
2 See also
3 References
4 See also

[edit] WWAC

Women had served in the United States military before. In 1901 a female Nurse Corps was established in the Army Medical Department, and in 1907 a Navy Nurse Corps was established. However, despite their uniforms the nurses were civilian employees with few benefits. They slowly gained additional privileges, including "relative ranks" and insignia in 1920, a retirement pension in 1926, and a disability pension if injured in the line of duty in 1926. Edith Nourse Rogers, one of the first women to serve in Congress, voted to support the pensions.^[1]

The first American women enlisted into the regular armed forces were 13,000 women admitted into active duty in the Navy and Marines during World War I, and a much smaller number admitted into the Coast Guard. These "Yeomanettes" and "women Marines" primarily served in clerical positions. They received the same benefits and responsibilities as men, including identical pay, and were treated as veterans after the war. These women were quickly demobilized when hostilities ceased, and aside from the Nurse Corps the soldiery became once again exclusively male. In contrast, the army clerks and "Hello Girls" who worked the telephones during World War I were civilian contractors with no benefits.^[2]