ROSIE THE RIVETER: A MISREPRESENTATION OF THE EXPERIENCE OF WORKING WOMEN DURING WORLD WAR II

Abstract

World War II opened employment doors for many women who otherwise would not have had the opportunity. The images of Rosie the Riveter have become the visual representation of this labor shift. Rosie evolved into a cultural and feminist icon. Yet much of what Rosie represents today is not an accurate portrayal of the experiences of working women at the time. Not all women were young, beautiful and housewives- turned-laborers as the images portrayed. Many female workers were working class, minority, and had already been in the labor force for some time. Rosie the Riveter represents feminism today, but at the time her creation represented nationalism. The postwar view of women reverted to pre-war standards; women returned to their homes as wives and mothers. Though change was not outwardly apparent at the war's end, women who entered the labor force during the war planted the seeds that bloomed into the woman's movement of the late 1960s and 1970s. To view Rosie as a feminist is to view the real working women during WWII out of historical and cultural contexts.