Battles & Wars › World War II › Arsenal of Democracy: US war production
Rosie the Riveter: women in war industry
1942–1945· Event· Arms makers & war industry
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
The wartime symbol of the millions of American women who took factory and shipyard jobs during World War II.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
With men in uniform, about 6 million more women joined the US workforce between 1940 and 1945, and their share rose from about a quarter to over a third. They welded ships, riveted bombers and ran machine tools. A 1942 song, 'Rosie the Riveter,' and Norman Rockwell's 1943 magazine cover fixed the image. Women usually earned less than men for similar work, and Black women faced added discrimination. Most lost their factory jobs when the war ended.
Why it matters
It became a lasting symbol of women's ability to do work once reserved for men, and of the home front's role in winning the war.
How we know
Census and Labor Department statistics, company employment records, oral histories, and the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, California.
Still debated
Economists such as Claudia Goldin found the war's lasting effect on women's work smaller than the legend suggests. The model for the 'We Can Do It!' poster was disputed until 2016.
Connections (3)
▸Rosie the Riveter: women in war industry was embodied by Rose Monroe, a riveter at Ford's Willow Run B-24 bomber plantWell documented
The connection
Rose Will Monroe, a widowed mother from Kentucky, riveted B-24 bombers at Ford's Willow Run plant. When actor Walter Pidgeon visited the plant, he chose her to appear in a promotional film for war bonds, making a real-life 'Rosie' famous. Thousands of women worked there.
When and how
Ypsilanti, Michigan, about 1943–44; Rose Will Monroe (1920–1997) and actor Walter Pidgeon.
How we know
The film itself, plant records, and Monroe's later interviews and obituaries.
Debates and open questions
Several women are called 'the real Rosie,' including Monroe, Rosalind Walter and Naomi Parker Fraley; there was no single original.
▸Rosie the Riveter: women in war industry echoed the WWI 'munitionettes' of the Shell Crisis and Britain's Ministry of MunitionsWell documented
The connection
A generation earlier, Britain's 1915 shell shortage pulled close to a million women into munitions work under the new Ministry of Munitions. These 'munitionettes' filled shells with explosives; TNT turned some workers' skin yellow, earning them the nickname 'canaries.' They foreshadowed the women war workers of World War II.
When and how
Britain, 1915–1918, in national factories such as Woolwich Arsenal and HM Factory Gretna; Minister of Munitions David Lloyd George.
How we know
Ministry of Munitions records, factory photographs, and Imperial War Museum oral histories and collections.
Debates and open questions
How much war work helped British women win the vote in 1918 is debated; the law covered only women over 30, excluding most munitionettes.
▸Oak Ridge (Clinton Engineer Works) relied on young women operators, part of Rosie the Riveter: women in war industryWell documented
The connection
At Y-12, thousands of young women, many just out of high school in rural Tennessee, ran the calutron control panels, adjusting dials without knowing their purpose. In a production contest, they reportedly outperformed the PhD scientists who designed the machines. These 'Calutron Girls' were part of the wartime wave of women in industry.
When and how
Y-12 plant, Oak Ridge, 1944–1945; operators employed by Tennessee Eastman, photographed by Ed Westcott.
How we know
Tennessee Eastman employment records, Ed Westcott's photographs, and operators' oral histories, such as Gladys Owens's.
Debates and open questions
The contest with the scientists is a famous story told by Manhattan Project participants, but its details rest on later recollection.