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

Rosie the Riveter

• Rosie the Riveter

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!

End of the war

• Go Home!