The iconic figure of women working in shipyards and factories came to term as Rosie
The Riveter during World War II when women were encouraged and praised for working in place of the men who fought for the country. It was not only the men fighting who helped win the war for the allies, the women working to build the fighter planes and other war machines were victorious on the home front. Throughout the 1940’s, propaganda posters were widely used to promote patriotism in war efforts whether it was to get more men to fight in the war or it was to get women to fill in the shoes of the men. The famous propaganda poster of Rosie The Riveter was used to promote the bravery and strength of women workers, the famous caption being “we can do it” to
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One woman who became the face of the working women was Geraldine Hoff. When she first got the call from painter Norman Rockwell she had no idea she would become “an icon for the female workforce until she saw her figure on the cover of the May 29, 1943, Saturday
Evening Post”(Perkins). This first picture was not the most famous poster that people are used to today. This version portrays Rosie “with a flag in the background and a copy of Adolf Hitler's racist tract ‘Mein Kampf’ under her feet with her large muscles and lunch pail”(History
Channel.). The more commonly known poster was created in 1942 and was used for the
Westinghouse power company with the famous headline “We Can Do It!”. The well known poster was created by J. Howard Miller and showed a woman in patriotic work clothes with her hair in a bandana and flexing her muscles again shouting the famous words. The real Rosie did not just stand for one woman, she represented thousands of women who worked in factories that made ships, guns, and planes. There were many working women during this time named Rosie who have become famous for their working efforts. One of the most famous Rosie's, Rose Will
Monroe, “appeared as a Rosie the Riveter in popular films, she is most often identified as the