Wage Disparity

‘Rosie the Riveter’ is the name of a fictional character which was created to represent and symbolize the millions of real women who were encouraged by the North American government to join the work force in factories, munition plants and shipyards during World War II, while most men were called to duty to serve in the army during the war.

Rosie the Riveter is considered a feminist icon in the US. During the nineteenth and twentieth century feminism grew big they fought for the equal rights of women, against domestic violence and abortion rights. More than a poster Rosie the Riveter was known to represent a real woman. According to the Encyclopedia of American Women Rosie relates the closest To Rose Will Monroe who worked as a riveter at the Willow Run Aircraft factory in Michigan and build airplanes such as the Boeing 29 also known as B-29 and B-24 bombers for the Us Army Air force. As hard as she tried to achieve her dreams and accomplished them Rosie became Rosie the Riveter and was an ideal for many. Not only does this poster stand up for women but it’s important because it increased the number of women working, 22 million in 1941 that’s a 57% increase. Another organization was the ninety-nines, an international association of

Even though Rosie the Riveter is an image frequently synonymous with the contemporary women’s movement, she was not designed to promote social change or improve the role of women in the workplace during World War II. In reality, she was promoted as the ideal female worker and was patriotic, confident, capable, and beautiful in a large propaganda campaign by the United States government. Since the war caused many men to answer the call to serve in the military, both at home and abroad, the United States was faced with the urgent challenge of recruiting women into the workforce. Rosie the Riveter was their solution to this problem.

At the start of World War II the American people had a sense of unity. Men chose to leave their jobs and families to join the front line, while women, for the first time, were leaving the home and taking over those jobs that their husbands left behind. In 1943, many magazines chose to paint a picture of women hard at work. These articles focused their stories on working women, and glamorized the untraditional jobs they held. They thought perhaps, that if they made these smaller, hard working jobs exciting, and noble, that more women would begin to join the work force. For this reason, the media created a fake working woman named Rosie the Riveter, and she was illustrated as a hero for American women. These efforts to pull

The gender wage gap has been around since women began having jobs and careers. Though in the beginning the gender wage gap was purely do to discrimination by social stereotypes, now it has become more complicated than that. The issue today has evolved into a complex issue which combines our American culture with business economics. As a result, some are skeptical of the issue and some are very adamant in their beliefs. The issue encompasses not only gender stereo types but also educational, government policies and business’s best practices.

With the new manufacturing field, these companies needed hard working men to help construct heavy equipment. This forced many of the soldiers out of war to go work in factories. This is when the military units realized they needed more help fighting. These generals were unsure how women were going to react when asked to help fight war. However, they were shocked when the women did not have a problem saying yes. Since propaganda was big during world war II, they encouraged women to join the war using this advertisement. This is when Rosie the Riveter was created. She was seen wearing a red and white bandana that covered her hair, and she is flexing. Her look was trying to put off a strong, confident woman with the quote, “We Can Do It!” above it, in hopes this would also motivate women . Often other propaganda had quotes enforcing the urgency and need for women to work. This mostly sparked the middle-class women because the poorer women were already working in factories. These new workers began getting hired for jobs driving taxis, streetcars, heavy construction machinery, they also worked in steel mills. However, the women working in these fields did not make as much money as the men, but they were grateful or being able to work somewhere besides the house. There were many issues that arose from women working though. One of the biggest problems was child care. Since women were once

Throughout World War II, six million American women turned their backs on their duties as housewives and joined the workforce for the first time and found paying jobs that ranged from working in factories to retail. Due to the high amount of men being drafted into the war, a high demand to support the war effort and the recent number of vacant jobs resulted in a vast need for a labor force. Workers had been desperately needed to keep the nation running and to support the war effort. The United States government created a cultural icon, a fictional character named Rosie the Riveter, to attract women to the concept of working.

Before the war, women in America had typical lives, and many were wives and mothers. America was brought into the war unexpectedly when Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941. Hundreds of thousands of men were drafted into the war, leaving the women behind. America lost a lot of valuable, hard-working men to fight, and they needed people to fill their positions. According to history.com’s article, “American Women in World War II”, it was then when Rosie the Riveter was created to recruit women to become part of the “work force” (“American Women in World War II”). Rosie the Riveter was a fictional character who motivated women across the U.S. to take jobs in different industries, many of which were previously all-male positions.

Gilderlehrman.org announced, “The number of working women rose from 14,600,000 in 1941 to 19,370,000 in 1944. In the later year, 37 percent of all adult women were in the labor force. At the peak of the industrial effort, women constituted 36 percent of the civilian work force.” ("The World War II Home Front"). The total population of women workers were growing majorly. Women were making movements across the country due to working in factories. More women actually enjoyed working in factories rather than their housewife job. More women started expanding their culture due to it. A major impact to women was Rosie the Riveter. Rosie the Riveter was a woman figure who was all over articles to encourage women of any age to step out of their comfort zone, and encouraged them to take a part in helping out with the war. Gilderlehrman.org states “But then the

Women in the early 1960s were content with the social pressure to aspire to marriage and be the ideal wife for their husbands, but, in the 1960s, when the second wave of feminism around the world approached, women believed that they could and should contribute to society in more ways than solely babymaking. Naturally, as men and boys were shipped off overseas to fight the Viet Cong, women stepped out of their usual roles of teachers and assistants in order to help on the Home Front. Many women took jobs in factories to contribute to the war effort in every way they could, from working on production lines to rationing food. Historically, women’s roles in the workplace lead to inspiring images such as Rosie the Riveter, which continues to inspire women and girls to this day. Furthermore, women believed that

Rosie the Riveter served as a symbol for all women who worked in factories mainly in the

During the war in the 1940s, an aggressive media campaign urged more than six million women into the workforce. It is astonishing seeing each year; there were better accomplishments that women were making. Many learned new techniques such as working in steel plants, shipyards, and lumber mills. Sports also became a new and admired era in this time. The famous “Rosie the Riveter”, “We Can Do It!” was a part of the governor campaign that brought women into the workplace during the war. Following the end of WWII, most of these jobs went back to the men, and women were encouraged to either return back home or find a “female” job. This reveals that women were used. They were only needed when most of the men were in the war. In

In order to get more women to join the workforce during World War II, the government used a variety of tactics to motivate them. Propaganda posters of a character named Rosie the Riveter was one of the most successful ways. Rosie the Riveter represented all the women who worked in defense industries, in factories and shipyards, to fill the positions of men who were fighting in the war. Rosie the Riveter was used as an effective tool for propaganda to get women into the workforce. Yet, despite the fact that millions of women proved themselves to be good workers, Rosie disappeared when the war ended, proving that she was regarded as purely a recruitment aid by the government who never really wanted women in the workforce.

During World War II, many people moved in to new jobs for the war effort. This included women by the millions. “Rosie the Riveter” was a national symbol of women taking jobs in the industrial field while the men were away fighting the war. “She was fictional, but represented the ideal government worker, including being loyal, efficient, and patriotic”, (Bowles, 2011).

Throughout the ages, women have aided in the achievement of greatness of their brothers, sons, fathers and husbands. However, there are moments in history where this aid is more than a hand to hold. The distinction must be made that the Rosie the Riveter Movement did not take place for the same reasons as women’s suffrage. Thus, there is a difference between the concepts of Feminism and Patriotism. It is true that in some ways when the war ended women who worked had earned a more equal relationship with men in the workplace, however this was not the purpose of ‘Rosie the Riveter’. If one requires an example of a feminist movement, the events that took place in the 1960s and 1920s should suffice. Women assumed the roles of men during the war, and did so out of the responsibility to their country. This is the precise reason why World War II was the greatest moment in history for American women. The movement was not one of suffrage or equality; it was a demonstration of innate strength, endurance, and especially patriotism. Despite the odds, and all those who doubted them, women exercised their patriotism for their country. This is evident in the valor that many unrecognized women displayed in the United States’ Armed Forces, and on the Homefront. Neither gender, nor sexuality held any responsibility for their simple, yet heroic actions.