Transcript 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
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!