Rosie the Riveter

My Hero Art Contest : Riveting Rosies (We Can Do It)

 My heroes are the women who stepped up to take their husbands jobs in the factories and shipyards during WW2. They had to do this because their husbands were away at war and they needed a stream of income to provide for their families. Rosie the Riveter was first a song inspired by war worker Rosalind P. Walter. After High School, 19 year old Rosalind began working as a riveter on Corsair fighter planes at the Vought Aircraft Company in Stratford, Connecticut. She is widely recognized in the ‘We Can Do It!” poster as a symbol of American feminism and women’s economic advantage. Images of women workers were widespread in the media in formats such as government posters, and commercial advertising was heavily used by the government to encourage women to volunteer for wartime services in factories. This led to nearly 19 million women having jobs. In 1940, only 28 percent of women were working; by 1945, this figure exceeded 34 percent. In fact, the 1940s saw the largest proportional rise in female labor during the entire twentieth century.