How The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (GI Bill) Impacted Women Artists' Career Opportunities

Abstract

The GI Bill educated millions of veterans after World War II, and in the second half of the 1940s, higher education enrollments doubled. Colleges and universities recruited professional artists to teach these returning GIs; many of whom were 1930s W.P.A.-educated and economically supported men. Males dominated enrollments and hires, as significant numbers of females were denied admission in art schools and employment as artist educators. Expected by society to be wives and mothers, women artists often experienced gender inequity and prejudice which prevented them from teaching art at universities and colleges. The few women hired in higher education often faced gender-biased tenure and promotion decisions by tenured male faculty. By the mid 1950s, those who did not paint in the style of Abstract Expressionism were excluded from teaching in art programs at universities, colleges, and academies. This paper concerns the impact of the GI Bill on women artists’ careers in the years 1944 to 1970.