Rosie The Riveter Essay

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We Can Do It Statistics show that during World War II the number of working American women jumped from nearly 9 million to 20 million merely because of a simple poster encouraging women (Wiki). This poster of a now well know woman, Rosie the Riveter, refer to a period in American history that can be considered the beginning of a major shift in the role of women. During World War II, when millions of men were conscripted or voluntarily joined the armed forces, defense plants in the United States had to continue producing needed artillery, weapons, and other goods for the war effort. At the time, reasonably few women worked outside the home, and even fewer would have worked in factories like those producing airplanes and other military goods. Enlisted to see to it that production did not decrease in this time of emergency, the female…show more content…
With the majority of the men gone that usually worked the factories and welding plants the United States needed to keep producing arms, ammunition, and other various equipment for the troops to continue they efforts. Thus women were encouraged by posters such as these showing that they too could help the country in this time of need. Needless to say, a great deal of women stepped up, were trained, and filled jobs that had, until this time, only been filled by men. Rosie the Riveter has made a mark on the American people and most of all the way in which the American woman is seen. Women were once only seen in homes cleaning and cooking and the era of Rosie was the first step in women’s rights. Though at the end of the war men returned to their old factory jobs forcing women out of their maculating jobs, they showed women as a whole that they could do the same thing men could. While women did not end up reentering the work force until the 1970’s they were not in such high demand at this time either

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