Rosie The Riveter Essay

Superior Essays
Who can do it? Women can! The millions of women working for the war effort led America to victory against the Axis Powers. Rosie the Riveter, as their mascot, symbolized women 's efforts and started a movement for women 's rights across the country. "Rosie the Riveter" was a character created to inspire American women to stand up and join the workforce. Riveting was usually seen as a man 's job because it requires the worker to hold a heavy riveting gun that shoots out metal bolts. Consequently, the recoil is very rough, and the riveter needs to be strong to absorb the force. Government propaganda during World War II was responsible for much of the change in society 's acceptance of women in the workplace. Posters, radio programs, magazine …show more content…
The iconic "We Can Do It" poster, by J. Howard Miller (pictured right), was the first of the "Rosie" series to emerge in early 1942 (Rosie The Riveter). It depicts a white woman flexing her muscle, and representing women working in industrial jobs during the war. In February 1942, Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb wrote a song entitled "Rosie The Riveter" (Colman 15). Norman Rockwell got his inspiration for his painting (pictured left) from lines like "Rosie buys a lot of war bonds, that girl really has sense, wishes she could purchase more bonds, putting all her cash into national defense" (Perkins). His painting shows a more masculine woman holding a riveting gun on her lunch break. "Rosie the Riveter" symbolized to America the effort of all women workers toward winning the war. Before the war, women were less than 1% of the wage earners in the shipping industry (Miller). During the war, the term "Rosie" was used to refer to all women who worked in defense industries, not just riveters …show more content…
These women were no longer thought of as just housewives, but were seen as capable of “men’s” work. WACs, WASPs, and Rosie the Riveters proved that they were capable and reliable. The Rosie the Riveters helped the United States defeat the Axis Powers in World War II by producing tanks, guns, artillery pieces, warships, and ammunition. In addition, WACs and WASPs assumed noncombat jobs and freed men for combat overseas. These women were not confined to traditional roles but, instead, created new paths for women to follow. Furthermore, these women became resourceful and self-sufficient (Lockhart,

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Throughput this course we have examined numerous and substantial events in our nation’s history, and how it impacted the lives of women. This essay where examine the effect of two significant events, the depression and WWII, and the effect they had on woman. It will then focus on the lasting, if any, effects these events have had on the role of women in our nation. Finally, it examine whether or not these events radically changed women’s lives, or if women’s lives stayed the same throughout these events. The first event that strongly effect women during this time period was the Great Depression in the 1930’s.…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    World War II took place from 1939-1945. It was a war in which women had to take on responsibilities that had previously been unavailable to them to compensate for the roles of men whilst they were away at war. The impact of World War II had repercussions for Australian society. The changing roles of women during World War II impacted upon both Australian women and men.…

    • 1203 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    World War II was not the first time the women were used to help fight a war. In World War I women were also used to cleaned, cooked and took care of the house. Also women were the ones who had the victory gardens for the soldiers when they returned home from the war. They took care of the kids and satisfied the men. Women worked in factories making artillery, like ammunition for the soldiers so the men didn’t have to do so much work.…

    • 716 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Women In Ww2

    • 1070 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Rosie Riveter is a prime example of womens roles beginning to change in Canada. She inspired a social movement among women. The number of working women rose from 12 million to 20 million by 1944. However, after the war, when the men returned, most women went back to being domestic civil mother figures rather than Rosies in the first place proved their equality and inspired the social movement. This evidence shows that women were beginning to be seen as equal, and Rosie Riveter aided in broadening horizons for women in Canada and America.…

    • 1070 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Rosie the Riveter was an icon during World War Two. She started off as propaganda to gain women’s attention to persuade them to come work in the factories while their men were away at war. She soon turned into the face of women factory workers all over the nation, giving them an image of strength and determination that they did not have at home. Throughout the war, Americans came together as one nation to defend it from those who sought to destroy it. After the war was over, again we came together to heal as a country and come out of the struggles of war stronger.…

    • 1539 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Women's Role In Ww2

    • 1386 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Most of the women involved in any job was not working for money, they felt that they were helping to support the war because they were making weaponry and other products for men to use in war instead of doing housework at home. All of the effort made into persuading women was driven by a main message. The idea of the Women in War Jobs campaign was advertised to all women across America to help convince women to join the workforce. The main goal and message of Rosie the Riveter was to acknowledge the importance of patriotism and the idea that war would end sooner if women at home filled the shoes of men fighting on the warfront (Hoyt…

    • 1386 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ww1 Unit 2 Research Paper

    • 1143 Words
    • 5 Pages

    As more men were being called on to participate and fight in the war, women stepped up to produce the heavy machinery needed for the war and home to keep the country running. Women learned and did well at men-dominated trades like welding, riveting, and engine repair. Women were an integral role for a victory in the war as they were needed for the production and supply of goods to the troops fighting overseas. It was during this time that women disproved the notion that women were incapable of manual and technical labor. The main reason I left a domestic job to be a part of the factory was based on the fact that wages in munition plants and airplane factories were higher.…

    • 1143 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Rosie the Riveter was used as an icon to get women to respond to the need of workers and to make them feel as if they too can do the work that their husband did. But when men came back to do their usual work, so would women. This infuriated women who felt they had more to offer than caring for babies all day, so Rosie the Riveter became a feminist icon to help them progress. By now, Stanton and Mott had already ignited a flame that resulted into a crazy wildfire with no stop to it. Women were now beginning to question norms like restraining from sexual desires or dressing…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Before the 1940’s, women in the workplace was uncommon and frowned upon; women were to be housewives and specifically designated to the home, until the start of WWII. Rosie the Riveter is a cultural icon has forever shaped and changed the role of women in society. During WWII Rosie represented the women that helped in shipyards while the men of the country were out fighting in the war; this still being a time where it’s uncommon for a woman to even be in the workplace. This has given society a new shape for femininity, independent, hard-working women. Women have always been placed in a “public sphere,” meaning that they were not expected to pursue the same interests that a man would.…

    • 1025 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Starting December, 1941, the United States entered a global affair otherwise known as World War II. This war forced every capable individual of stepping up to the plate, and doing what the country needed at the time. Not only did men get sent overseas, women did too by finding themselves in Europe and numerous Pacific Islands. Besides women taking part in the war eastward, they had a duty to help on American soil. Although this was unprecedented, at least to this extent, women knew they needed to help the United States in its quest to win the war, and protect the world from fascism.…

    • 1851 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Rosie the Riveter presented the idea that everyday women strived for: someone who was involved and good at her job, but also remained feminine. Advertisements, war posters, and other propaganda convinced women that "women for the war effort was"…

    • 1641 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Women In Early America

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages

    It was the name given to the women on many of the propaganda posters, representing the American women who worked in factories during World War II, many of who produced munitions and war supplies. These women essentially replaced the male workers who were in the military. These 'Rosies' were seen as strong, serious and competent women, who were able to work the heavy jobs that were only reserved for men before. The 'Rosie the Riveter' image symbolized the vital importance of women workers. Many women began working outside the home for the first time.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Women After Ww2

    • 1207 Words
    • 5 Pages

    So they fought have equal wages and remove long hours of work (F. Miller). Watching at women skills made all companies to look at them equally when hiring them. Rosie the Riveter and almost all women “became the symbol of patriotic women who were doing what they could to help in the war effort” (Henry). Women got recognize to be capable of doing the so called men 's jobs because women worked hard to achieve equality on jobs even after knowing that their “new activities were expected to last only for the duration” (May 24) of the war.…

    • 1207 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Before World War II women were seen as fragile and were powerless to advance on their own in American society. During World War II women pushed passed barriers that without the impact of World War II it may have taken women much longer to overcome. Even though nobody wants war and the United States of America attempted to avert entering into World War II, along with all of World War II 's negative affects the war had positive effects on the stature of the lives of the women within the United States of America. With the opportunities provided to women during the war and the men getting to see women placed into “non-women 's jobs” helped to show that women were not fragile and should be treated as equals to men.…

    • 1023 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    I have chosen an American wartime propaganda poster produced by J. Howard Miller in 1943 for Westinghouse Electric as an inspirational image to boost worker morale. This poster is called, “We Can Do It” but is also referred to as “Rosie the Riveter” because of the woman illustrated on the poster. “The "We Can Do It!" image was used to promote feminism and other political issues beginning in the 1980s. The image made the cover of the Smithsonian magazine in 1994 and was fashioned into a US first-class mail stamp in 1999.”…

    • 932 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays