![]() ![]() Roosevelt, pressured by black labor union leader A. The demand for human computers soon outstripped the supply of qualified white women available. Although they earned less than male counterparts despite possessing equivalent bachelor degrees, NACA still paid better than teaching did and permitted them to continue working long after marriage and the arrival of children. Golemba notes that “Because of the male shortage and the added attractiveness of paying women less, they rather reluctantly began to hire women as computers.” Despite their qualms, these white women soon proved themselves equal-and better-at the task. Prior to 1935, the male (usually white) engineers performed their own calculations, a tedious task that slowed their research. The first female computing pool, then all white, formed due to necessity. Called computers, they were mathematicians whose work entailed calculating complex equations for the engineers engaged in the then emerging field of aeronautics. Author Margot Lee Shetterly focuses on a particular group of pioneering women working at NACA/NASA, the African-American women who overcame barriers imposed by both their gender and their race. Hidden Figures tells the story of the women who performed the behind-the-scenes work that propelled American aviation triumphs during World War II and Space Age rocketeering.
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