Rosie the Riveter (women in WW2)

In order to recruit women for factory jobs, the government created a propaganda campaign focused on a figure known as Rosie the Riveter. Rosie was tough yet feminine at the same time. To reassure men that the demands of war would not make women too masculine, some factories gave female employees lessons in how to apply makeup, and cosmetics were never rationed during the war. Keeping American women looking their best was believed to be important for morale. Sexism was still obvious and enforced during this great revolution for women. So much that in order to not intimidate men, they were forced to look feminine and weak while working at factories.

“Rosie the Riveter was the star of a campaign aimed at recruiting female workers for defense industries during World War II, and she became perhaps the most iconic image of working women.”link She was a symbol of the female workforce during WW2. Her famous poster “We Can Do It” was aimed at motivating women to stand up for the cause of the war. (war effort) Based in small part on a real-life munitions worker, but primarily a fictitious character, the strong, bandanna-clad Rosie became one of the most successful recruitment tools in American history, and the most iconic image of working women in the World War II era.

“In movies, newspapers, posters, photographs and articles, the Rosie the Riveter campaign stressed the patriotic need for women to enter the workforce. On May 29, 1943, The Saturday Evening Post published a cover image by the artist Norman Rockwell, portraying Rosie with a flag in the background and a copy of Adolf Hitler’s racist tract “Mein Kampf” under her feet.Early in 1943, a popular song debuted called “Rosie the Riveter,” written by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb, and the name went down in history.”