Who was Rosie the Riveter? The image of a muscular, determined worker, hair tucked under a kerchief, graced countless magazines and posters. Several real life Rosie’s won national publicity, Including Rosie Hicker, a worker in a Tarrytowwn, New York, aircraft plant, who set a record for driving rivets into the wing of a bomber.
What most people do not know is that Rosie was not based on one woman. The name was first used in a 1942 song: “All the day long, whether rain or shine, she’s part of the assembly line. She’s making history, working for victory, Rosie the Riveter” by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb.
Rosie the Riveter truly became a cultural icon of the United States, representing the American women who worked in factories during World War II, many of whom produced munitions and war supplies. These women sometimes took entirely new jobs replacing the male workers who were in the military.
Although frequently associated with the contemporary women's movement, Rosie the Riveter was not supposed to promote change or enhance the role of women in society and the workplace in the 1940s.
Instead, she was meant to represent the ideal female worker and help fill the temporary industrial labor shortage caused by the combination of fewer male workers and increased production of military equipment and supplies.
Instead, she was meant to represent the ideal female worker and help fill the temporary industrial labor shortage caused by the combination of fewer male workers and increased production of military equipment and supplies.
Rosie the Riveter is commonly used as a symbol of feminism and women's economic power.