Women surged into the paid workforce during World War II. Government policies tried to boost productivity and make up for labor shortages as men were called into the armed forces. Millions of women responded to patriotic appeals and the possibility of greater economic opportunity, but moving into the paid workforce, even temporarily, caused controversy. Struggles over equal pay, union representation, child care, and hours and working conditions turned factories, shipyards, and offices into the front lines of the fight for women’s rights.