How did World War II change the roles of women shown in film noir?

During World War II, the influx of women into the workforce and their increased independence while men served overseas significantly influenced the portrayal of women in film noir. This shift in societal gender roles is widely considered a key factor in the emergence of the femme fatale archetype, a character who stood in stark contrast to the passive, maternal "good girl" roles common in other films of the era.21

The femme fatale embodied a complex, often threatening independence; she was typically depicted as intelligent, ambitious, and capable of ruthlessly manipulating men to gain power or wealth. This portrayal reflected a lingering anxiety in the male psyche regarding women’s newfound autonomy. Because these films were produced under the Hays Code, which restricted depictions of immorality, these assertive female characters were almost always punished or destroyed by the film’s conclusion. Ultimately, the femme fatale’s duplicity and subversion of traditional domestic roles mirrored the cynicism and disillusionment that defined the noir genre in the postwar period.231