Rosie the Riveter

Who is Rosie the Riveter? Most people think of Rosie the Riveter as the image that appeared on the War Production Coordinating Committee Poster that was to be posted in factories in February of 1943, however, she was first dubbed Rosie by Norman Rockwell on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in May of 1943. View period cartoons of Rosie the Riveter and various Rosie the Riveter propaganda posters urging women into the workplace.

Before they took jobs in factories, most women didn't wear pants on a regular basis, nor did many of them hold down jobs after they got married. After all, a woman's role had traditionally been in the home, taking care of the children. Their children, and sometimes even husbands didn't believe that they were smart enough or strong enough to hold down a real job, and some of the first Rosie's struggled in their new roles at first, as they found that the factories has almost been exclusively male.

To some of of the new female factory workers, however, the job boom was a godsend. The depression of the 1930's had left many families still not completely financially stable. Women moved into cities and crammed into tiny flats with several roommates to make some extra money. For those families that were hit hardest during the depression, the chance for a wife to earn a paycheck while her husband was getting his overseas pay was almost a lucky break.

 

 
But. Rosie the Riveter surprised no one, when she - hundreds of thousands of her - took to factories across the nation to launch the war machine into high gear. Perhaps, she surprised the factory foreman who was skeptical of her ability to handle a rivet gun and a drill press, and she forever revolutionized factory safety when, for the first time, things like long hair were considered safety hazards around machinery.

Rosie the Riveter too became the true sweetheart of all the men overseas who knew that she was the riveter, welder, drill-press operator or machinist behind each and every tank, airplane, and machine gun that saved their life. Rosie the Riveter was so popular that she had a song named after her.

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