Camas women working at the mill during World War II. Photos from The Years of the Paper, Crown Zellerbach.Autumn 1943
A woman placed on a man’s job or a materially changed job will maintain her seniority on her old job, but will not build up seniority on the new job. After the war such jobs will be returned to the men. The Camas-Washougal Post Record, June 4, 1942.
Then when they … had the women working at the mill, and they had a lot of women there that were older women, but then the younger women started coming in. What can I say? They were paying better than the waitresses were getting and that’s what we were after. … Of course the girls had good opportunities at the mill too because a lot of the men were gone and they were getting a lot of step-ups, like they needed inspectors … a lot of them stayed and they got those little promotions … — Kathy Sinclair, 2000 interview
The Camas mill recruited from as far away as the Midwest during World War II to fill positions vacated by men who joined the service. By 1943, women made up 30 percent of the mill’s workforce. Workers like Camas resident Kathy Sinclair benefited from a competitive atmosphere among employers. Sinclair left the mill for a better salary at the Kaiser shipyards.
Women working at the Camas mill built ship rudders, cranes, and other wartime materials that Crown Zellerbach produced and sold to the government at cost.
In April 1943 women working “men’s” jobs were finally paid “men’s” wages, while payment for traditional “women’s” jobs remained lower.
Many women were able to keep their mill jobs after the war, but those working “men’s” positions found their jobs reclassified as “women’s” positions, reflecting gener-based pay classifications.
The mill eliminated the different pay scale for men and women in 1969.
Transcript: Interview with Kathy Sinclair
Legislation: The Equal Pay Act of 1963
Washington State University Vancouver Student Paper: ‘Til the Boys Come Home?
