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Rosie the Riveter
Rosie the Riveter
Rosie the Riveter
• By Norman Rockwell, published on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on May 29, 1943
• Became a female icon of WWII
Not to be confused with…
• Artist J. Howard Miller an artist at Westinghouse, produced this image in 1942 to encourage females to join the workforce
Background
• War production and drafting of men lead to the hiring of women
• Six million women entered the workforce for the first time
• Many were white, middle class women who were encouraged to go to work
• The poor and minorities had always worked
Government Propaganda
• Between 1942 and 1944 there was a government led effort to recruit women
• They produced hundreds of posters, magazine articles and radio commercials that appealed to women’s patriotism
• “Women, you could hasten victory by working and save your man."
Government Propaganda posters
Women at Work• Employed in war time production factories as
welders & riveters• Only earned 60 percent as much as men doing
the same jobs• Minorities faced prejudice• Companies refused to hire them, gave them
menial jobs and paid less than white counterparts
• Roosevelt issued an executive order banning racial segregation & discrimination in wartime industries
End of the War
• As men returned from the war, women were forced out of the workplace
• The media portrayed women’s war work as a temporary sacrifice motivated by patriotism
• Vast numbers of women wanted to continue working, they felt dismissed and used by the government
• However the recognition that women could work and run a home was significant!
