POWERGRAMS

44 allowed women to understand how to use the appliances and to develop confidence in the use of electricity in their homes. Initially, women were often afraid of cooking with electricity after growing up with wood-burning stoves and ovens. The economic boost the nation experienced after World War I, to some extent driven by the sale of electric appliances and increasing demand for electricity, ended with the 1929 stock market crash and the onset of the Great Depression. Federal New Deal programs, especially the extensive development of hydroelectricity in the Tennessee Valley, were challenges to Alabama Power, which owned many of the sites before TVA. These sites remained undeveloped both because of a lack of private investment capital and low demand for electricity in the area, which made that investment more risky. Federal efforts increasingly used women to educate and train others on the use of electricity in their homes, which followed Alabama Power's programs. The success of these efforts bolstered support for using women to spread the word about electricity. The massive New Deal programs of President Franklin D. Roosevelt pumped more money into Alabama's economy in the 1930s, but the nation's full recovery came through government spending after the United States entered World War II in 1941 following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The large deployment of American men left companies and factories short-handed. At Alabama Power, women began to fill these jobs, as they did across America. Women moved into sales positions, and they learned how to repair meters and appliances. They became telephone operators, worked in warehouses and read meters. Many of Alabama Power's female employees used their experiences with the company to support the U.S. military during the war, while others took over responsibilities left by men who went off to wartime duties. Mary Cochran, who had served as a secretary for many years, was elected in 1945 to the Alabama Power board of directors, becoming the first woman elected to an officer position. The new appreciation of how women could be employed to achieve Alabama Power's goals was a lesson not forgotten when peace came again in 1945. The company would remain ahead of the curve in appreciating the potential of females. by Leah Rawls Atkins At far left, Martin with Home Service representatives in 1955; Maria Whitson was hired as an engineer in 1923; Annette Davis, left, and another female employee in the Reprographics Department in 1948; at right, Phyllis Johnson instructs a Home Service wiring and lighting class in 1969.

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