How did the World War 2 affect the lives of American women?

The most famous way in which WWII affected the lives of American women was by changing the sorts of jobs that were open to them.

As so many American men went off to war, all sorts of jobs that had previously been held only be men were unfilled.  Women started working in jobs like assembling airplanes and running power tools.  They did things like flying airplanes from factories to where the Armed Forces needed them.  Instead of being housewives and secretaries only, they started doing all these things.

Of course, women were also affected by having to deal with having husbands and sons off fighting and by having to cope with all the shortages and rationing that happened during the war.

Many women, like my grandmother and my wife's grandmother ended up moving around quite a bit to be near to where their husbands were stationed.  My grandmother then took my mother (an infant) and went to live with her parents when my grandfather got shipped overseas...