The most iconic image of working women during World War ll, Rosie the Riveter was the face of a campaign that was working to recruit female workers for various defense industries for the war. The industry that the campaign was centered around was aviation, they were placed in the US aircraft industry in hopes to help the US army in the war. As the majority of men had left to serve in the war, there were gaping holes left in the American workforce that had to be filled. With the plethora of jobs available, women– even married women– were now encouraged to get jobs.
Rosie the Riveter is the quintessential figure of working women, especially in the mid-1900s. Her true identity is not known, however, the inspiration for her is assumed to be one
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Years earlier, during the Great Depression, women were discouraged from getting jobs so that the few jobs that were available could go to men. However, when World War ll started, the governement now wanted women to start entering the workforce. They created the Rosie the Riveter campaign to try and entice women into getting jobs. In one version of the Rosie the Riveter poster, she was standing on a copy of Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler’s political rulebook. The message this sent out to women was essentially that although men were on the frontlines doing the physical fighting, women were also doing their part to defeat the enemy and help people. The poster of Rosie the Riveter was changed slightly from the original one because the first is far more masculine, something no one wanted to see in a women in the 1940s. The new poster “appealed to the sense of patriotism and common goal of the Second World War while showing that women could retain their femininity and womanhood in their service” (Hawkes). The message was “We Can Do It!”, referring to how women were wanted and valued in the workplace. This was a message never before seen in modern society, especially not seen when targeted towards married women. This was in fact so unheard of, that “World War II was the first time in U.S. history married women outnumbered single women workers” (Hawkes). Also, by 1944, 1 in 3 defense workers were former full time
Historiography Individual Books This source, Creating Rosie the Riveter, is a monograph written by Maureen Honey, which describes how during the 1940s, due to the need to fill jobs normally held by men, who were mostly enlisted overseas, the US government turned to its women and tried to persuade them to apply for jobs in factories, production, and management through propaganda, such as advertisements, pulp fiction, and magazines. It also examines how the image of Rosie the riveter was formed through propaganda and why, as well as why the propaganda turned back towards traditional images of women, such as the housewife and mother image, when the war came to an end. In terms of the argument, the author argues that propaganda was used
As World War II developed more and more Australian men were conscripted by the British Empire to join the war and therefore tens-of-thousands of men left Australia, leaving their wives and children behind. On the home front, women dealt with the consequences of war in an extreme manner which consisted of managing children and family accountabilities alone, shortages of resources, as well as their concerns for the future, and the grief of losing loved ones. Although this was a distressing and challenging time for the women population within Australia it also enabled them to access ‘a man’s world’ and be successful within the economical workspace, which was previously not accessible to them prior to the war. 'Rosie the Riveter ' was a
The second World War resulted in a demand for workers after men began leaving for the war. Due to a lot of the working men in America going overseas as well as the demand for war products, women became a major source of labor. Propaganda began to address women, persuading them that it was their duty to start working for the men. The film The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter gives personal accounts of some of the hardships women faced in the era surrounding WWII, and how the media was used to create a desire for women to work.
One of their accomplishments was getting women to work in factories using propaganda posters such as Rosie the Riveter. Rosie showed that women can be as strong as men and still be feminine and beautiful, as shown in her famous flex pose(Olsen). The amount of women joining local plants and factories led women into joining the military to do jobs in areas like the medical field, technology field, and many others. The emotional appeal of this would be empowerment and feminism because with the help of Rosie the Riveter, gender roles had begun to diminish and women started to stray from the stereotypical image of a housewife. The logical appeal of this poster is the factual information and the Army Forces logo displayed on the poster.
In the bottom right-hand corner of the advertisement the words, "War Production Co-Operating Committee" can be seen in bold, white letters. Although the woman in the photo is known as Rosie the Riveter, she was a symbol of a women’s movement rather than one specific woman. The United States Government began the "Rosie the Riveter Campaign" to persuade women to join the workforce. The United States began this movement after men left for war during World War II. With a majority of the working population away, the government was in desperate need of a supplemental work force.
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
Women were able to prove that they were just as capable as men in the workplace, and this opened up new opportunities for women in the workforce. Rosie the Riveter remains an important symbol of women's empowerment to this day. Her legacy has inspired countless women to pursue careers in male-dominated fields and to fight for equality and representation in the workforce. While there are valid criticisms of Rosie the Riveter as a rhetorical device, her impact on women's involvement in the workforce during World War II cannot be understated, and her legacy continues to inspire women around the
Women worked in factories such as making bullets for the war, and assembling air crafts to be used over seas, these women also worked in steel industries building large buildings. Women took roles that we don't think about when we think of Rosie the Riveter. Some became farmers, milk maids, radio personnel to broadcast the war. Marilyn Monroe was one of the historic Rosie the Riveter icons. According to Ashley Collman, Marilyn became a big star she worked assembling radio planes.
Miller’s target audience was young American women, for they were a necessity on the homefront during the war. Rosie the Riveter was designed specifically to entice women; thus, this strategy worked because women felt obligated to help their beloved men and country. Rosie the Riveter was able to resonate with all women because she embodied the American dream: to be employed. John Miller along with the War Production Coordinating Committee wanted Rosie the Riveter to be highly credible among young women. The government, particularly the War Production Coordinating Committee was also credible.
As a result of so many men in the military, there was no one to run the factories so the woman stepped up and took their places. Woman would work in factories, shipyards and some even worked in the army, airforce, or navy all while trying to balance their home life for their children (Doc. 1). Nearly 350,000 women served their country in this way (OI). Rosie the Riveter was a fictional character on a poster stating “We Can Do It!” at the top of the poster and her flexing in a worker's uniform with a bandana on.
Many took jobs in industries that fueled the war effort. Women, in particular, were encouraged to work in defense industries, with posters describing “Rosie the Riveter,” a fictional character representing the quintessential woman worker, and
More than 310,000 women worked in the U.S. aircraft industry. One example is Rosie the Riveter, she was mostly known for helping the United States to recruit women to work. (document 1) She was in newspapers, movies, posters, photographs, and articles. Rosie the Riveter represents the American women who worked in factories and
People were afraid of that happening again and since there were so many spots to fill in factories after most men went to fight, most women who were already working went to work in the factories. That left a lot of “civilian jobs” without people to do them. So, Rockwell was encouraged to draw another recruitment girl, this one however was depicted several times in several different uniforms (“Rosie the Riveter: Real Women Workers in World War Two”). For example, she was most commonly dressed as a nurse or a mechanic (“Rosie the Riveter: Real Women Workers in World War Two”). Sadly, this recruitment girl lived in Rosie’s shadow and did not do nearly as well as Rosie did.
Rosie the Riveter had people talking in the 1940’s and continues to do so in the 21st century. “Rosie the Riveter marked a revolution for women across the nation. Over the years, ‘Rosies’ became the typical working woman in American society… ‘Rosie the Riveter’ will always be an influential American icon.” Rosie the Riveter is timeless and will always be referred to or used to inspire women’s rights movements, whether it be just wearing a costume to look like her, or spreading the message of “We Can Do It!”. Encyclopaedia Britannica defines “Rosie the Riveter” as both “media icon associated with female defense workers during World War II” and “a symbol for women in the workforce and for women’s independence.”
To gain their support, the public image of women had to be changed. More propaganda was produced, encouraging women to enter the workforce as a way to continue the progression of the United States as their men went off to fight. Propaganda targeted towards women usually consisted of an emotional tone rather than an authoritative one. “To mobilize women… government propaganda needed… central theme… concentrated on patriotism and emotional appeals” (Mathis). It was known by the government that the best way to persuade women into aiding the war effort was to appeal to their emotions; women were angry that their loved ones were forced to go off to war to partake in a fight that was believed America had no need to be in.