When the United States entered World War II in December 1941, life changed for everyone. All the factories were literally begging for help. They desperately needed workers, and soon the meager reserve of men who had not gone to war was exhausted. The U.S. Department of Labor declared a shortage of workers. To satisfy the demands, women were actively recruited for the work force. This change in the norms of society met opposition, so the government created the Rosie the Riveter propaganda campaign.
In 1940, only 10 percent of women who worked were employed by factories, but by 1944, the figure was up to 30 percent. Although pay was not always equal (the average man working in a wartime plant was paid $54.65 per week, while women on average were paid $31.21 per week), and conditions were sometimes very poor, women quickly responded to Rosie the Riveter, who convinced them they had a patriotic duty to enter the workforce. Some claim that she forever opened up the work force for women, but others dispute that point, noting that many women were discharged after the war and the jobs given to returning servicemen.
After the war the "Rosies" and the generations that followed them knew that working in the factories was in fact a possibility for women, even though they did not re-enter the job market in such large proportions again until the 1970s, and by that time factory employment was in decline all over the country.
The image most iconically associated with Rosie is J. Howard Miller's famous poster for Westinghouse, titled "We Can Do It!" which was modeled on Michigan factory worker Geraldine Doyle in 1942.
5 comments:
Great post! I didn't know all that.
I've read a little about the women of WW2 and their contributions to the war both as civilan factory workers and their miltary service. We couldn't of won the war without their personal sacrifices and hard work either...
Or all their pots and pans that the government was asking for in the form of donations at collection points all over the place just after Pearl Harbor was bombed.
It's interesting that the Westinghouse poster is now associated with the government's efforts to recruit women into the factories. It wasn't known at all on the home front. It was posted only in the security-protected Westinghouse factories, and for only two weeks in Feb. 1943. In fact, it was actually unknown for nearly forty years after the war, too. Only since the 1980s has it become such an icon.
How interesting! Thank you for sharing that info with us. There's still so very much for me to learn about this era.
I saw the original of this poster as well as others of simular poses.these women helped us pull together and win...Virgie Bell Said
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