Mobilizing the manpower of mothers: Childcare under the Lanham Act during WWII

Abstract

The Lanham Act was a federal infrastructure bill passed by Congress in 1940 and eventually used to fund programs for the preschool and school-aged children of working women during WWII. It remains, to this day, the only example in US history of an (almost) universal, largely federally supported childcare program. We explore its role in enabling and increasing the labor supply of mothers during WWII using information on the program, war contracts, and employment at the city level. Use of Lanham Act funds for a wartime childcare program was initially controversial. However, the program was eventually well funded per child in average daily attendance and provided generally high-quality care. But it was late to start, limited in scope, and incapable of greatly increasing women’s employment in the aggregate. Childcare facilities were funded more in places that already had higher participation rates of mothers and where the wartime need was the greatest. The impact on the children served is still to be determined.