The History of "Rosie The Riveter" and Women in the US Workforce

“Rosie The Riveter” is perhaps the most iconic image to symbolize American women entering the US workforce.?Prior to World War II, most working women were employed in fields traditionally reserved for women - nursing, teaching, clerical operations, and domestic work.?Shortly after bombs were dropped on Pearl Harbor, women stepped up to the plate to assist in the war efforts and consequently changed the face of the American workforce.

With thousands of American men off to fight the war, women were called to take their place on countless manufacturing production lines.?During that time, women typically worked in factories that produced munitions, but they also built ships and made airplanes.?In 1943, more than 310,000 women worked in the US aircraft industry.

During World War II, government figures estimate that about 7.25 million women were employed in the workforce.?Statistically speaking, 46% of all abled-bodied women between the ages of 14 and 59-years-old were engaged in some form of work.

During the early 1940s, a campaign was launched to recruit more women into the US workforce.?Pictures of a strong, bandanna-clad woman called “Rosie The Riveter” began appearing in newspapers and movies.?Her face was also captured in pictures and featured on posters.?American artist, Norman Rockwell even painted a picture of Rosie, which was featured on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post.?The Rosie campaign became one of the most successful recruitment tools in American history.

The character “Rosie” is primarily fictitious, but it is indeed loosely based on a real woman who worked in the munitions industry.?The true identity of “Rosie The Riveter” has been the subject of considerable debate.?Sources claim the character was based on two Navy machine shop workers in Michigan.?Other sources claim that “Rosie” was actually Rose Will Monroe, who worked as an actual riveter at the Willow Run Bomber Plant near Detroit.

Then there’s Rosalind P. Walter from Long Island, New York.?She was also a riveter who inspired the popular song “Rosie The Riveter,” written by songwriters Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb.

However, the most credible claim for Rosie’s legacy traces its origins to Naomi Parker Fraley.?Fraley was a worker at a naval air machine shop in Alameda, California.?A photo was taken of her laboring in a hot and loud factory.?That photo captured Fraley working with mechanical parts on an assembly line, all while wearing the iconic polka-dotted bandana.

After the war ended, most women resigned from their jobs and returned to their domestic lives.?Unfortunately, there was still a prevailing sentiment that a woman’s place was in the home.

However, the success and prominence of women in the workforce during World War II had a lasting impact.?Women proved they were just as competent and efficient as men when it came to putting in a hard day’s work.?Within a few decades, woman in the workforce became a common sight.?Fast forward to today, women serve as Presidents and CEOs of major companies, and they thrive in male-dominated industries like engineering, manufacturing, and construction.?

Social Activist and Suffragette, Mellie L. McClung once said, “Never underestimate the power of a woman.”?“Rosie The Riveter” epitomized that quote.

By Jeff Welch, Director of Diversity and Inclusion????????????????

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