Download Rosie the Riveter: How Thinking, Making, and Doing Bridged the

Rosie the Riveter: How Thinking, Making, and Doing Bridged the Gender Gap and Created the
New American Woman
Devin James Spencer
2 June 2010
Spencer 2
In today’s day and age, the true origin and significance of Rosie the Riveter is regrettably
lost on the general public. The name conjures up romanticized images of empowered women and
uneducated conceptions concerning the actual state of women’s rights before its inception.
Outside the uninformed public scope, she exists as a controversial topic amongst scholars, who
debate the true intentions of her creation and her tangible long-term effect on women’s rights.
Absent from this field of study however, is a thorough examination of the exact methods
employed in the pro-women worker propaganda of the era and how these strategies contributed
to the campaign’s overall success. The symbol of Rosie the Riveter first appeared in radio and
later evolved into its newspaper form. While its means of presentation varied greatly, the multifaced, multi-faceted symbol of Rosie the Riveter, through its subtle hybridization of radically
different viewpoints, inspired women to break from their customary social positions and eased
male acceptance of such change. A rhetorical analysis of Redd Evans’ and John Jacob Loeb’s
original “Rosie the Riveter” song, in combination with a visual analysis of Norman Rockwell’s
Saturday Evening Post cover, demonstrates the propaganda’s emphasis on patriotism and its
fusion of the traditional strong, dominant masculine typecast with the delicate, subservient
female stereotype in order to create a socially viable route for female advancement in American
industry. The government’s initial thinking, when spread to the public through artists’ making,
resulted in millions of women shedding age-old gender strictures through their doing in the
factories, and forever changed American women’s status in society.
A true appreciation of the Rosie the Riveter Campaign’s direct impact and lasting effect
on American society is only possible through a thorough analysis of economic and societal
conditions before its creation. The American economy, from its colonial beginnings has been
rooted in traditional gender roles, promoting a male dominated workforce and confining females
Spencer 3
to the role of homemaker or service industry worker. This striking inequality transcended the
employment sector, governing gender roles within the social sphere as well. Women lived as
second-class citizens in early American society, without so much as the right to vote or hold
public office. From the onset of the industrial revolution, up until the Rosie the Riveter
campaign, argues Sonia Szelényi, the dominant demographic of American society (male, white,
wealthy, landowners), employed numerous laws and industrial reforms that [perpetuated] mens’
material advantage over women” and “[encouraged] women to choose wifery as a career”
(Szelényi 677). Through the guise of ensuring the health and safety of these women, men were
able to carry on their workforce monopoly. The vast gender gap did not improve with the turn of
the twentieth century, as the prototypical female industries of the era, service and food,
“generally [operated] on low profit margins and [were] nonunionized” (Honey20). These
substandard wages and working conditions combined with the inability to argue for improvement
of said conditions left women in American industry at a significant disadvantage. By contrast,
men, during the same time period, labored in the unionized, high-paying production of durable
goods, such as: metal works and automobile manufacture. By 1939, women occupied just eight
percent off all durable goods production jobs, the bulk of which were either from the lower class
or a minority (Honey 21). The vast majority of American women, especially those in the middle
and upper classes, remained firmly set in their customary homemaker position. So engrained
were these traditional gender roles, that even major gender-equality legislation, such as the
nineteenth amendment, passed in 1920, which granted women suffrage, did little to change the
social and economic landscape. As Melanie Miller writes, after its passage “many women still
did not embrace the newfound right and either did not vote at all or voted the way their husband
voted” (Miller 459). Whether from fear, custom, or simple ignorance of a different existence,
Spencer 4
the vast majority of American women, with the exception of radical feminists or those few who
labored in prototypically male industries, remained reluctant to change their societal role.
While World War II officially began with Hitler and Nazi Germany’s invasion into
Poland on September 1, 1939, the United States, wary of being drawn into another European
conflict, as it was in the First World War, adopted a pacifist policy. While supporting the Allied
effort through various aid, in the forms of “lend-lease” and “Bases-for-Destroyers”, Congress
refused to send United States troops into combat. While the American public arduously voiced
its desire for neutrality in the European Theater, in response to France’s sudden collapse in June
of 1940, the Roosevelt administration called for a rearming of the United States military. By
September 16, 1940, the controversial Selective Training and Service Act, better known as the
draft, was approved by both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Roosevelt
(Oxford 30). Because the United States refused to enter combat however, men continued to be
the mainstay of American industry and the women occupied their traditional homemaker role.
This neutral approach remained American policy until December 7, 1941, when the Empire of
Japan attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. By December 11,
Congress had declared war on all three Axis powers, Japan, Italy, and Germany (Horne 39).
Very suddenly, America was no longer a neutral country in the conflict, and had need of the
newly drafted army. World War II saw 12,500,000 men drafted into military service, leaving a
country without a workforce during a war, where success hinged on constant production.
(Lotchin174). Further compounding the labor shortage was the restructuring of the factories to
accommodate war assembly; rendering the remaining workforce completely inexperienced. Even
the most veteran factory workers were required to learn an entirely new craft, in essence
Spencer 5
reducing the entire remaining U.S. workforce to novice level. With production quotas looming,
government officials faced the monumental task of rebuilding the gutted workforce.
The government recognized that traditional male dominance in the workforce was
impossible to maintain in the wake of the draft, and that drawing women out of their customary
gender roles was the only means of coping with the industrial demands of a two-front war. The
need for a propaganda campaign to inspire more women to join the workforce emerged as the
sole solution. Now actively engaged in thinking, the government attempted to craft a campaign
that both appealed to women’s inspirations and assuaged men’s fears, in an effort to bring about
this drastic social change in a subtle and timely manner. From the onset of planning, government
records clearly illustrate officials’ emphasis on patriotism and national need. This is best
illustrated in a section of the Office of War Information’s Basic Program Plan for Womanpower
which reads: “These jobs will have to be glorified in as a patriotic war service if American
women are to be persuaded to take them and stick to them. Their importance to a nation engaged
in total war must be convincingly presented” (Office of War Information 1). While early United
States efforts pushed strongly for bringing women into the industrial workforce, the lack of a
central symbol or a method for appealing to both sexes translated to an entirely ineffective
campaign.
The initial propaganda’s inability to appeal to both genders’ arguments failed to draw
more women into the workforce; instead, the void was initially filled by an insufficient
assortment of: disabled veterans, boys too young to enlist or be drafted, and men too old for
combat. Amongst this hodgepodge workforce, while infinitesimally small in number, labored
those women who had worked in factories since pre-war times. It was these few women who
worked in the factories, alongside men, who began to garner some, albeit subdued, public
Spencer 6
attention. In 1942, Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb witnessed such women laboring alongside
men in the factories, and were so affected by their experience that they wrote a song titled:
“Rosie the Riveter”, the first example of making in the budding campaign. When released on
American radio in early February 1943, the song had an immediate impact, shifting the public
spotlight to these industrious women and breathing new life into the previously futile
government propaganda campaign.
Through word choice, the songwriters endorse women’s transition from the home to the
factory, accentuating the pivotal role in the war effort played by these industrial women. Its
initial stanza compares the women who remained in their customary social position to the
women who labored in the factories, celebrating the courage demonstrated by these factory
women. Evans and Loeb compare: the “other girls” who “attend their fav’rite cocktail barsipping dry Martinis, munching caviar,” to Rosie, who “all the daylong whether rain or shine,”
is “part of the assembly line,” where she is “making history working for victory” (Evans and
Loeb 3-4). From the first words of the song, the writers’ view of women in industry is clear, as
“other girls” incites that the industrial women occupy the more important societal role. The
casual consumption of fine foods and spirits by the other girls, suggesting purely selfish motives,
contrasts sharply with the unfailing work ethic and devotion displayed by the women working on
the assembly line. The “making history working for victory” line demonstrates the writers’
recognition of the significance of women entering the workforce and the importance of their role
in supporting the war effort.
The patriotism of women factory workers stands out as a major theme in the song, voiced
through symbolism and references to significant United States World War II policy. Loeb and
Evans write that “there’s something true about, Red, white, and blue about Rosie” (Evans and
Spencer 7
Loeb 5). Alluding to the colors of the American flag, the songwriters employ symbolism to
present Rosie’s actions in a patriotic light. Red, white, and blue, since the birth of the first
national flag, is a phrase that holds a place of pride in Americans, and this allusion emphasizes,
to the listener, these women’s unparalleled exhibition of patriotism. The songwriters perpetuate
the patriotic theme of the song as they describe Rosie “doing her bit for the old Lend-lease” and
“putting all her cash into national defense,” through her purchase of war bonds (Evans and Loeb
5). These are the names of significant U.S. measures enacted to support the Allied war effort
during World War II. Rosie’s support of these programs is included to demonstrate her
enthusiasm to contribute to the war effort in any way possible and further emphasize the
patriotism that motivates her. This willing eagerness is evidenced in factory worker, Clella
Juanita Bowman’s recollection of her initial exposure to war-time factory conditions; “I just
decided that whatever they put me on, I’d do, I’d do the best I could” (Campbell 119). The
overwhelmingly positive and nationalistic rendition of the industrial woman argued that, by
working in industry, women could play a vital role in the American war effort and influence the
outcome of the conflict.
Because American society, still grounded in its time-tested gender roles, could not
withstand the culture shock of a shift to complete gender equality, “public officials, social
workers, and the media actively worked to ensure that women would be competent, confident,
and resourceful” in the work environment, but remain “dependent, deferential to men, and
domestic off the job” (Anderson 36). This approach to appealing to both sexes was based on the
“Rosie the Riveter” song’s lyrics, which were written in a way that balances the two opposing
ideologies, and blends gender traits. The propaganda combined traditionally feminine and
prototypically masculine characteristics in order to create the profile of a new woman, both
Spencer 8
intriguing to women looking to prove their worth and acceptable to men who supported more
conventional gender responsibilities. Serving as the most integral theme of the song, the lyrics
are saturated with seemingly paradoxical allusions to Rosie’s male and female characteristics.
She is described as a “little frail” who “can do more than a male can do” (Evans and Loeb 4).
The term “little frail” suggests the traditional image of a weaker, docile female, who is ill-suited
for manual labor. The second half of the line however, exceeds gender equality, suggesting that
women are capable of more than men. The two segments cannot be more polar opposite, and it is
the merger of the two that underscores the key to the “Rosie the Riveter” song’s appeal and the
propaganda campaign’s success: balance. By appealing to the drastically different arguments in
one cohesive blending, the propaganda aimed to convince both sides of the validity and necessity
of women in the workforce. Rosie having a Marine boyfriend, named Charlie, offset by the claim
that she is “protecting him by working overtime” is another example of such an incongruity
(Evans and Loeb 5). Having a boyfriend, especially a Marine serving his country in combat
(where woman are not allowed), suggests female subservience and the traditional belief that
women cannot perform the same tasks as men. In complete contrast, the second line argues that it
is Rosie who is protecting her boyfriend, Charlie, rather than the other way around as per the
conventional belief. The final example of such a contradiction in the song’s lyrics is seen in
Rosie earning a “production ‘E’” and being “as proud as a girl could be” (Evans and Loeb 5).
The production “E” signifies production efficient, or meeting the required quality standards, and
Rosie’s earning of such a grade implies her ability to perform at a level equal to males. But to be
“as proud as a girl could be” reverts to sexual segregation as if to suggest men and women hold
themselves to different standards. On the surface, these illogicalities seem only to contradict each
other. As in-depth analysis has demonstrated however, they serve to meld two drastically
Spencer 9
different notions of women’s place in society into a single compromise tailored to fit the
demands of both the male and female arguments.
The most significant step in the evolution of Rosie the Riveter as a propaganda device,
occurred shortly after in the songs release, when the Saturday Evening Post, in its May 29, 1943
issue, featured a cover story reporting on these industrious women. It was this second example of
making that gave Rosie’s character a tangible image and finally allowed American women to
relate to the campaign’s message. The name “Rosie” painted on the can of the female subject,
suggests that Rockwell took inspiration from the original song when creating his image of Rosie
the Riveter (Ehrlich, Minton and Stoy 62). But Rockwell’s famous painting indeed draws more
than the heroine’s name from the song, evidenced by the contrasting details, included within the
painting, that promote a similar new American woman, who is grounded in patriotism and
characterized by a combination of femininity and masculinity.
Illustrating clear connections to the song, Rockwell’s Rosie, through imagery and color
scheme, features powerful and easily discernible allusions to women industrial workers’
patriotism. The first, and most obvious reference to Rosie’s zeal is the grand, billowing
American flag that fills the painting’s background. The flag serves as metaphor for a strong sense
of nationalism and underscores its role as the primary catalyst for Rosie’s entrance into industry.
Rosie, who is red-haired, white-skinned, and wearing blue is a reference to the flag herself and
mirrors the “red, white, and blue” Rosie of the original song. The message in both the song and
the painting is clear; women’s work in the defense industry is a selfless act in service of their
country. Drawing further inspiration from the song, Rockwell includes various pins to Rosie’s
coveralls; the red cross is for blood donation, the V-pin references the victory pin, and the largest
of the pins is her security pass. All of these seemingly minor details combine to illustrate a
Spencer 10
woman who contributes to the American war effort by any and all available means. The
patriotism and desire to contribute to the war effort demonstrated by both the song’s and
Rockwell’s Rosie, transcended the lyrics and resonated with the women of the era as evidenced
by Alabama ammunition factory worker, Eugenia Holman, in a 1943 letter to her friend. Holman
writes:
I hadn’t learned of the vital necessity of every able-bodied person
doing their share no matter no matter how small and working!
working! working! And when my husband and my brother and my
cousins and all the other boys come back home, I want to be able
to look them in the eye with a clear conscience and say, “I did all I
could” (Yellin 46).
Holman endeavors to prove that she, like the rest of the women who answered the government’s
call, supported the men in combat through their dutiful work in the factories. Her letter reflects
both pride and patriotism in her work, an attitude shared by many of her female counterparts
during their time in wartime industry. Rockwell however, takes Rosie’s patriotism a step farther
than the song with his inclusion of a copy of Hitler’s famous book, Mein Kamf, under her shoes.
Rather than simply supporting the army, as Rosie does in the original song, Rockwell’s Rosie is
trampling Hitler’s manifesto and helping to stomp out the Nazi scourge. Appealing to women’s
perceptions of self worth, this evolution encouraged women to consider their service in the
defense industry as just as vital a role in defeating the Nazis as the men in combat overseas.
Rockwell, in the promotion of a new American woman like that of the original song,
merges seemingly-contradictory concepts of masculinity and femininity, through specific
detailing of Rosie’s physical attributes, apparel, and pose. Beginning with an examination of
Rosie’s physical appearance, details such as her torso, face, and hair, seize the viewer’s attention.
Rockwell endows his Rosie with bulky, muscular arms, dirtied by grease and toned through
intensive labor. Additionally, her large, powerful hands are the antithesis of lady like appearance.
Spencer 11
These brawny limbs complement her thick neck and broad shoulders, adding to Rosie’s
exaggerated male body. This overstated, muscle-bound, and grimy Rosie empowers women,
symbolizing their capacity for heavy workload and ability to withstand working conditions
normally reserved for men. Rosie’s fingertips, face, and hair however, completely contradict the
rest of her body in their overly feminine portrayal. The masculine torso is offset by her petit,
upturned nose and long eyelashes. These delicate facial features contrast sharply with her bulky
frame and provide the first example of numerous paradoxical physical characteristics included in
Rockwell’s painting. Her brawny hands are tipped with red nail polish-coated fingernails,
lipstick accentuates her lips, and her blushed cheeks glow with a cherry hue. Where her arms are
smudged from her work in the factory, Rosie’s pampered hands and face are a model of the
feminine conception of beauty. Intended to balance Rosie between the two completely different
perceptions of women’s role in society, Rockwell urges women to prove their worth as equal
workers, but never fully surrender their femininity. Her hair is a contradiction in itself, as the
beautifully vibrant red hair is cropped short in a very masculine, workman –like manner. It
suggests beauty and hard work in one, seamlessly united element.
Rosie’s apparel, in the same manner as her physical appearance, perpetuates the
campaign’s common theme of male and female trait blending. This unification strongly supports
gender equality, while reminding the viewer that it is still women stepping into a prototypically
male-dominated world. It glorifies women’s service but simultaneously strives to lessen the
societal shock of a mass female entrance into the male work environment. The dominant article
of clothing in Rockwell’s painting, is the pair of thick coveralls that cover her bulky frame. This
garment, standard issue for male factory workers of the era, accentuates Rockwell’s support of
women in male-dominated industry. He furthers this symbolism with the inclusion of heavy,
Spencer 12
industrial goggles covering Rosie’s forehead. This eyesore is intended to add a masculine
element to her otherwise exceedingly feminine face. Manly garments such as these, urge women
of the era to break from traditional gender roles and support the belief that women can perform
the same tasks as their male counterparts. Just as he did with her physical makeup however,
Rockwell includes stereotypically female details to contradict and subdue this radically feminist
notion of women in industry. Hanging out of the right pocket of Rosie’s navy blue, coveralls is a
white, lace handkerchief. This lacey material contrasts sharply with her manly, industrial work
attire and the white fabric symbolizes innocence and peace. Complementing this handkerchief,
seen above Rosie’s industrial goggles, is a plastic visor. This redundant addition is not intended
to represent standard work attire, instead creating the illusion of a halo above Rosie’s head. It
adds to the lacey, feminine side of Rockwell’s Rosie, but at the same time, presents her as an
angelic, saving grace to American industry. It is this hybridization that both encourages women
entrance into the workforce and assures men of women’s continued pursuit of key, feminine
qualities, in an effort to ready society for so drastic a change. Moving down to her feet, the
reader notices loafers, in the place of men’s standard issue heavy-duty boots, symbolizing the
notorious lack of feet safety for women in factories of the era. This problem, D’Ann Campbell
argues, was a product of drastically insufficient amount of safety shoes being “made in sizes
small enough to fit all women workers” (Campbell 124). Rockwell’s inclusion of this major
detail serves a twofold purpose, first, illustrating women’s brave service in the dangerous
factories. Secondly, and more importantly, it highlights the harsh reality that women were
stepping into a man’s world. Serving as the most impactful example of making in the propaganda
campaign, Rockwell’s Saturday Evening Post cover gave the new American woman a face and
Spencer 13
set the stage for the women worker’s doing that would help win World War II and forever
change the role of women in American society.
The employment statistics during World War II provide a vivid illustration of how the
campaign’s transition from government thinking into artist making resulted in millions of women
doing their part fuel the American war effort . The campaign’s promotion of the balanced woman
spelled the end of male dominance in the workforce and set in motion women’s transition from
the low-paying nondurable goods industry to the unionized, high-paying durable goods industry.
A study done in ten of the United States’ biggest war production centers showed that during the
war, “50 percent of all women who had been in trade and personal service and 66 percent of
those who had been employed in eating and drinking establishments shifted to war manufacture”
(Honey 22). Beyond the women who changed employment sectors, over 6,500,000 women, a
fifty percent increase of the 1941 female labor force, answered the call and left their stereotypical
homemaker role to find employment (Litoff and Smith 9). The campaign’s impact on the gender
makeup of American industry is undeniable, but it is the accounts of women’s performance in
their new roles that truly demonstrate the campaign’s long term effects on American women.
Had women been unable to perform up to industry standards, the traditional doctrine of femalesubservience would have been confirmed, societal backlash would have resulted in a substantial
regression of the feminist movement, and historians would have dubbed the Rosie the Riveter
campaign a massive, failed social experiment. This was not the case however, as across the
board, despite numerous anatomical disadvantages, women performed up to industry standards
and in some tasks outperformed their male counterparts. The consensus” among “efficiency
experts” of the World War II era, D’Ann Campbell asserts in her book, was that “women could
excel at jobs requiring a high degree of dexterity, manipulative skill, and speed; those involving
Spencer 14
patience, attention to detail, and ability to perform well at repetitive tasks” (Campbell 115).
These women, who surpassed skeptics’ expectations and proved themselves to be valuable cogs
in the United States war machine, exuded pride in their increased wages and their newfound
independence. In fact, numerous surveys of women industrial workers, compiled in 1944, found
that between seventy-five and eighty percent of the women polled had full intentions of retaining
their wartime jobs (Honey 23). The success in their new industrial roles translated to a growth in
both women’s confidence and perceptions of self worth.
American society, since its colonial beginnings in the mid 1600’s, existed in a traditional
state of male dominance until well after the turn of the twentieth century. It took the most
destructive and deadly war ever to mar the face of the earth in order to rip America from these
customs and allow women to finally prove their worth. It required a collaborative effort on the
part of the government and various artists however, to craft a campaign that allowed both
genders to accept such drastic societal change. From the initial government planning, through the
artistic evolution of its symbol, and the eventual realization of its ultimate goal, the Rosie the
Riveter campaign never wavered in its promotion of the new American woman. Through
thinking, making, and doing, Rosie blended masculine and feminine traits, created a socially
acceptable path for millions of women to successfully join the wartime workforce, and forever
changed society’s perception of gender roles within America.
Works Cited
Anderson, Karen. "Teaching About Rosie the Riveter: The Role of Women During World War
II." Organization of American Historians Magazine of History 3.3/4 (1988): 35-37.
Spencer 15
Campbell, D'Ann. Women at War with America: Private Lives in a Patriotic Era. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1984.
Ehrlich, David A., Alan R. Minton and Diane Stoy. Smokey, Rosie, and You! Alexandria: The
Track Group, 2007.
Evans, Redd and John Jacob Loeb. "Rosie the Riveter." New York: Paramount Music
Corparation, 1942.
Honey, Maureen. Creating Rosie the Riveter: Class, Gender, and Propaganda During World War
Two. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1984.
Horne, Alistair. "If Hitler Hadn't." National Review 43.23 (1991): 36-40.
Litoff, Judy Barret and David C. Smith. "American Women in a World at War." Organization of
American Historians Magazine of History 16.3 (2002): 7, 9-12.
Lotchin, Roger W. "Turning the Good War Bad?: Historians and the World War II Urban
Homefront." Journal of Urban History 33 (2007): 171-184.
Miller, Melanie L. "Male and Female Civility: Toward Gender Justice." Sociological Inquiry
72.3 (2002): 456-466.
Office of War Information. "It's a Woman's War Too!" May 2010. The National Archives:
Powers of Persuasion; Poster Art from World War II. National Archives and Records
Administration. 24 May 2010
<http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/powers_of_persuasion/its_a_womans_war_too/its_a_
womans_war_too.html>.
Spencer 16
Oxford, Edward. "The Draft." American History 29.4 (1994): 30-44.
Rockwell, Norman. Rosie the Riveter Post Cover. ARTStor Slide Gallery. The Saturday Evening
Post. San Diego, 1943.
Szelényi, Sonia. "The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism: Towards a More
Progressive Union." Grusky, David B. Social Stratification: Class, Race and Gender in
Sociological Perspective. Boulder: Westview Press, 2001. 673-680.
Yellin, Emily. Our Mother's War: American Women at Home and at the Front During World
War II. New York: Free Press, 2004.