'Rosie the Riveter'

I would like to pay tribute to the women who supported the war effort during World War II. During this period, the male workforce was diverted to the military and women entered the workforce to take their place.

Prior to the war, only a small percentage of women were employed outside the home. Young women were expected to get married and take their place in the home, rather than establishing a career. When the war broke out, industry boomed due to the demand for war materials. Almost overnight, auto factories were converted into aircraft plants, shipyards were expanded, and new factories were built. Not only was there a need for workers in the factories, women had to replace men in almost every other industry. Women became streetcar conductors, taxicab drivers, business managers, commercial airline checkers, aerodynamic engineers, and railroad workers. Women operated machinery, streetcars, buses, cranes, and tractors. They unloaded freight, built gliders, worked in lumber mills and steel mills, and made munitions.

How did the government manage to change the traditional thinking of society and recruit untrained women?

Recruitment campaigns were launched and an icon "Rosie the Riveter" was created as propaganda to mobilize women. She could be found on cigarette advertisements, billboards, and wartime products. There were themes of patriotism and glamour used as an appeal to these women. There was also a song "Rosie the Riveter" written. Women were told to take the place of their men who were defending democracy.

The message was loud and clear "taking a war job was not a choice, it was a patriotic duty!"

There was a real "Rosie". Actor Walter Pidgeon discovered her when he was visiting the Willow Run Aircraft Factory in Ypsilanti Michigan. He was going to film a short movie there to help sell war bonds. At the factory, he met Rose Monroe, a widow. To take care of her two children, she was riveting airplane parts, fastening them together with metal pins. Pidgeon decided Rosie had to be in the film. She is not the woman in the well-known "Rosie the Riveter" poster, dressed in overalls and a bandanna.

What other incentives were offered to get women into the workforce? During this time, companies offered child care to convince homemakers to work for them. Some even gave out meals that the women could take home to their families. Still, women working in industry in 1944 were paid less than men who did the same work.

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