Analysis Of The Rosie The Riveter Movement

Carol Berkin’s book, Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for American Independence, asserts that the Revolutionary War was not a romantic time period in our nation’s history. It was one of upheaval, tremendous discord and violence. The Revolutionary War was not one fought on distant shores, but one of blurring the lines between the battlefield and the home front. The war touched all classes of people from those of the new American nobility down to Blacks and First Nation. It provides us in a series of what I call vignettes or snapshots of the war and its effects. We are provided on how these differences between all the differing groups impacted the daily lives of women.

When considering the American Revolution most histories fail to recognize both sides of the fight for liberty. Men were certainly the central figures; however could they have succeeded without the periphery support of women? In her book, Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America, Linda K. Kerber explores the contribution of women to the war and demonstrates the rising of “Republican Motherhood” during and following the war. Through this ideology, women merged their traditional roles with their new sense of civic duty. In the beginning chapters, Kerber examines women’s engagement in the war effort, explores the emerging idea of female patriotism and states the proper loyalties of married women during the time.

The film titled, “The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter”, looks at the roles of women during and after World War II within the U.S. The film interviews five women who had experienced the World War II effects in the U.S, two who were Caucasian and three who were African American. These five women, who were among the millions of women recruited into skilled male-oriented jobs during World War II, shared insight into how women were treated, viewed and mainly controlled. Along with the interviews are clips from U.S. government propaganda films, news reports from the media, March of Time films, and newspaper stories, all depicting how women are to take "the men’s" places to keep up with industrial production, while reassured that their

The role of women in American history has evolved a great deal over the past few centuries. In less than a hundred years, the role of women has moved from housewife to highly paid corporate executive to political leader. As events in history have shaped the present world, one can find hidden in such moments, pivotal points that catapult destiny into an unforeseen direction. This paper will examine one such pivotal moment, fashioned from the fictitious character known as ‘Rosie the Riveter’ who represented the powerful working class women during World War II and how her personification has helped shape the future lives of women.

The revolutionary war brought many struggles to the lives of many women. Many of these women were known as Red-Coats while others actually fought in the war. Most of these women took small steps towards freedom, some were achieved, but they were still considered inferior to men. There is another way in which the general opinion, that women are inferior to men, is manifested, that bears with tremendous effect on the laboring class, and indeed on almost all who are obligate to earn a subsistence, whether it be by mental or physical exertion—I allude to the disproportionate value set on the time and labor of men and of women. (Doc 8-8 Grimke) Even though many of these women have helped change standing in society by inspiring other women, it has helped them obtain equal rights in the 1920s.

After world war two majority of women were forced to leave their jobs and return back to the home. However the war set a foundation for women’s rights while feminism was slowly approaching its way into society. The hard work woman put into the war effort was about to be seen by society. Furthermore during the 1950s women were still viewed as full time mothers but the women’s movement would take place in later years.

This investigation will attempt to answer the question: “To what extent did the two major woman’s contributions in World War II, the WAACS and nurses, undergird the women fighting for equal rights achieve their goals of economic and social independence in the job force, during the years following WWII?” This research question will allow for exploration on women involvement in the war and how involvement affected woman’s independence in the United States. This investigation will analyze women rights and war involvement from 1939 to 1964 when title VII was passed.

Throughout Revolutionary Mothers one is reminded of just how the war transformed the role of women transcending them through the limitations that had always defined them. From the first significant role women had in politics which was not in the colonial assemblies but was expressed with their power to say “no” which ensured the success of the boycotts that resulted from the American Revenue Act and the Stamp Act of

Women are an essential, though often overlooked, aspect of every stage of world history. They contributed the growth of civilizations and the births of nations. The American Revolution was the pinnacle point of a tumultuous and changing world. People’s lives were thrown into turmoil as the war began on their doorsteps. One focal point amidst so much chaos was women. As men went off to battle, women embraced their changing lives in many ways. Most women stayed home, carrying on as best as possible, others followed their husbands on the warpath, and some brave women even joined the fight for independence.

Before the war, the first women’s rights movement took place in 1848. The meeting, known as the Seneca Falls Convention, is commonly accepted as the first step towards equality for women. This was the first step in a battle that would last over seventy years (Women’s Suffrage). The woman’s rights movement was greeted bitterly from all over the country, consuming newspapers with headline after headline, an editorial calling the movement: “the most shocking and unnatural incident ever recorded in the history of womanity” (Sigerman 36). The movement had just started to make an impact when the war broke out in 1861 which makes it easy to come to the conclusion that the vast amount of time between the start of the movement and the actually accomplishment of women’s rights means that the war had a detrimental effect on the movement. When one looks deeper, it becomes apparent that this is untrue.

During WWI, there was a huge demand for men to join the forces. When this happened there were gaps in America's workforce. This presented women with many jobs and opportunities outside of house work. 25,000 American women served jobs in France alone. Many of these women were nurses, drove ambulances, or had other war affiliated jobs. (Roark, 658) In providing women with jobs that didn’t correlate with housework, there was potential created for a shifting culture in America, a culture that accepted that women were a viable asset in the economy, in politics, and not just the house. Before World War I ended more than one million women found jobs in wartime industries alone. (Roark, 458) However, more specifically than just women, suffragettes too wanted to support the world. There was hope that if a war was fought overseas in order to protect freedom and democracy, then those values might translate back home. And eventually, the mobilization of the war helped support suffragettes pass the 19th amendment. (Roark, 656) World War I did not fight for women or for suffragettes, but women had growing rights because of the wars development, and this served to be a motivation for their

Rosie the Riveter poster was a 1943 image created by J. Howard Miller portraying a young female factory worker declaring "We Can Do It!" This poster was meant to get women involved in the work force to take over the jobs of men so they could go and join the World War II fight in Europe. Everything about Rosie contributes to her visual rhetoric from her speech bubble to her blue shirt. Looking just at her clothing there are many hidden meaning behind everything she wears. Starting with her red bandana with white polka dots it is a motif that can be seen in many other forms.

The women’s rights movement was a huge turning point for women because they had succeeded in the altering of their status as a group and changing their lives of countless men and women. Gender, Ideology, and Historical Change: Explaining the Women’s Movement was a great chapter because it explained and analyzed the change and causes of the women’s movement. Elaine Tyler May’s essay, Cold War Ideology and the Rise of Feminism and Women’s Liberation and Sixties Radicalism by Alice Echols both gave important but different opinions and ideas about the women’s movement. Also, the primary sources reflect a number of economic, cultural, political, and demographic influences on the women’s movement. This chapter

During the late 19th century and early 20th century, many American women began to feel a sense of hope that one day, they would achieve the same freedom as men had. However, women quickly realized that in order to gain the freedom they desire, they would have to change the social expectations of their time. History played a major part in helping change the social expectations, especially during World War 1 and World War 2, when women went to work and took on the jobs previously performed by American men who were fighting overseas. Many factors have contributed to the changes of social expectations concerning women’s roles in society due to the personal efforts of individual woman and groups of women who band together to fight for their independence

In the year of 1970, more than 20,000 women took to the streets in different nations to strike all for one idea, equality. The women's strike for equality was a strike - rally that took place most famously in New York City, however also in other places all around the country. Woman were not being seen equal to men, and were still seen as just housewives who took care of domestic duties. However, this was not true. Women knew they were capable of so much more if they were simply given an opportunity to do so. Therefore they marched. The Women's Strike for Equality of 1970 was a powerful moment in history for all women and feminists; it put important voices forward, set universal goals, and achieved great outcomes.