Women in the Workforce
Women working in professions that were traditionally reserved for men reached a high in popularity during WWII. With a shortage of men stateside due to the draft, women wanted to do their share to help in the war cause. Many women ended up as welders on the production lines, welding tanks and planes. The Rosie the Riveter campaign drew many women into the workforce.
In the 1960s, Robert McCulloch’s chainsaw operations in Havasu employed 500 employees. As indicated in the photo above, many of the employees were women. McCulloch went on to open two more plants in Havasu, including an outboard engine plant, along with a few other projects, some of which weren’t as successful (see side bar).
The growth of McCulloch operations in Havasu led to a number of companies opening shop, including Walters Publications, Inc., a printing company with 75 workers, Campbell Boat Company, Milne Trucking, and The Mode of Arizona, a furniture making company, with over 100 employees—many of them also women.