Official Explanation
1. According to the passage, which of the following was true of working women in the United States during World War II?
Difficulty Level: Easy
STEP 1: IDENTIFY THE QUESTION
The language according to the passage indicates that this is a Specific Detail question. The question stem further indicates that you are looking for information about working women in the United States during World War II. (Note: You may already know that World War II took place from 1939 to 1945. If not, the first sentence of the passage indicates that the war was going on in the early 1940s.)
STEP 2: FIND THE SUPPORT
The 1940s time frame was mostly detailed in the middle of the passage. The information about the 1930s (that women were discouraged from working) was pre-war and the information about 1952 was post-war. Find the relevant text and, in order to get full context, start reading two to three lines before the “meat” of the text. Here’s the relevant text for the wartime period:
“Although persistent and institutionalized discrimination had discouraged women from paid work during the 1930s, the wartime government used patriotic propaganda to encourage women to work in defense industries. While women’s employment was still viewed as an extraordinary measure for extraordinary times—and the female worker as merely filling in for a soldier to whom the job “properly” belonged—gender barriers were lowered somewhat during this period, and pay began to equalize. ”
STEP 3: PREDICT AN ANSWER
So what was true? The government encouraged women to work. They were still viewed as filling in, not the real workers. But gender barriers were lowered a bit and pay got a little bit more equal.
STEP 4: ELIMINATE AND FIND A MATCH
(A) Based on the last sentence of the paragraph, it sounds like the women did eventually give up their jobs, but nothing indicates that they did so happily, nor does the passage indicate that this occurred as soon as the men returned home. Eliminate.
(B) The passage does use the word extraordinary, but in a different context. The fact that women were doing what was usually “man’s work” was viewed as extraordinary, or very unusual. The passage does not indicate how competent the women were at their jobs. Eliminate.
(C) Yes! This matches the language pay began to equalize. It was not as equal before (in earlier decades), and it began to become more equal during the wartime 1940s.
(D) This answer choice starts out well, but then veers into issues not discussed in the passage. The passage says that gender barriers were lowered, but educational opportunities are never mentioned. Eliminate.
(E) The passage does not indicate anything about the competence or skills of women in the workforce in the 1940s. Eliminate.
Answer: C
2. Which of the following can be inferred regarding women’s employment during the period discussed in the passage?
Difficulty Level: Easy
Step 1: Identify the Question
The word inferred indicates that this is an Inference question. The question stem further indicates that you need to infer something about women’s employment.
Step 2: Find the Support
Most of the passage is about the topic of women’s employment, so remind yourself of the major time frames:
…discrimination discouraged women from paid work during the 1930s
…wartime government…encourage[d] women to work
…fewer women worked outside the home in 1952 than in 1942
Note: The passage contains additional detail about wartime employment; if none of the answers match on your first pass, you can narrow down and review the more specific details about the 1940s.
Step 3: Predict an Answer
The correct answer should “flip” what the passage says. If women were discouraged from working in the 1930s but encouraged in the 1940s, then there was a change in behavior or attitudes toward women working. If fewer women worked outside the home in 1952, then more worked outside the home in 1942.
Step 4: Eliminate and Find a Match
(A) Discrimination was mentioned for the 1930s, not 1942 or 1952. Eliminate.
(B) The passage indicates that fewer women worked outside the home in 1952 than in 1942, but it does not say why. One possibility might have to do with job qualifications, but this does not have to be true. Eliminate.
(C) This sounds pretty good—that’s probably what happened when the war ended. Leave this choice in.
(D) The passage doesn’t mention anything about economic prosperity. Eliminate.
(E) This is exactly what Step 3 says: More women worked outside the home in 1942! But what about answer (C)?
It turns out that answer (C) is a big trap. While it certainly sounds reasonable to assume that a lot of men came back from World War II and took their old jobs back, the passage doesn’t provide the information needed to make this inference. What if most of the soldiers died or were too injured to resume their old jobs? What if they came back and wanted to take new jobs, not resume their old ones? The passage does state that fewer women worked outside the home by 1952, but it does not provide information to infer that soldiers specifically took back their old jobs.
The correct answer is (E).
3. The author mentions the female worker as merely filling in for a soldier to whom the job “properly” belonged primarily in order to
Difficulty Level: Hard
Step 1: Identify the Question
The words in order to indicate that this is a Specific Purpose, or Why, question. Why did the author include the specific line quoted in the question stem?
Step 2: Find the Support
On Why questions, you’ll need to make sure you have the full context. The sentence or two preceding the quoted text will typically tell you why the author introduced that text, so start a bit before the quoted text, in this case:
“Although persistent and institutionalized discrimination had discouraged women from paid work during the 1930s, the wartime government used patriotic propaganda to encourage women to work in defense industries. While women’s employment was still viewed as an extraordinary measure for extraordinary times—and the female worker as merely filling in for a soldier to whom the job “properly” belonged—gender barriers were lowered somewhat during this period, and pay began to equalize.”
Step 3: Predict an Answer
Before the war, women experienced a lot of discrimination. Then, the government started encouraging women to work. The while start to the next sentence indicates a twist: The fact that women were working was still viewed as something they wouldn’t (or even shouldn’t) be doing if the men hadn’t gone off to war, but some things did get better for women.
The author is showing the two sides of the coin. The country needed women to work, and the fact that so many did helped to lower gender barriers, but many people still felt that the situation was, or should be, only temporary.
Step 4: Eliminate and Find a Match
(A) The men were off at war; they were literally unavailable to take the jobs. The government encouraged the women to fill in. Eliminate.
(B) The passage mentions nothing about the competency of either men or women. Eliminate.
(C) While it is likely true that discrimination still existed, the passage doesn’t provide enough information to say that it predominated. All the passage indicates is that conditions did get at least somewhat better for women during this period. Eliminate.
(D) Yes! The sentence does list two positives (gender barriers lowered, pay more equalized), but the specific line quoted is a negative for women. The author is showing both sides of the coin.
(E) Just the opposite, in fact! The lowering of gender barriers was a positive for women. The fact that they were still viewed as filling in for men to whom the jobs “properly” belonged is a negative. Eliminate.
The correct answer is (D).