What Is Howard Miller's Iconic Image, 'We Can Do It !'

Even though Rosie the Riveter is an image frequently synonymous with the contemporary women’s movement, she was not designed to promote social change or improve the role of women in the workplace during World War II. In reality, she was promoted as the ideal female worker and was patriotic, confident, capable, and beautiful in a large propaganda campaign by the United States government. Since the war caused many men to answer the call to serve in the military, both at home and abroad, the United States was faced with the urgent challenge of recruiting women into the workforce. Rosie the Riveter was their solution to this problem.

The woman in this image seems to be concentrating on cleaning the drapes and on nothing else. Also, her left hand doesn’t seem to be accurate, she should be holding on to a piece of fabric, but her arm isn’t over any fold in the fabric. Her hand almost looks like the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner. Rosler strategically placed the figure this way, bringing up the notion of the woman in the household, and her frustrations towards the objectification of women. She’s bringing up the controversy over the role of the housewife in the household. She also brings up an interesting juxtaposition between the work that the soldiers are doing in Vietnam and the work that the woman in this image is doing in the home.

The war expanded the horizons of American women. The war brought a tremendous shortage of labor. Not only was there great demand for labor to build up the war machines necessary to fight, but also the men were leaving employment for military service in huge numbers. As a result society asked women to fill the jobs, and they rushed to take them. ”Women in 1944 made up more than one-third of the civilian labor force” (Foner). There was a new found image of women now know as “Rosie the Riveter” who was a strong welding worker who helped build machines for the war effort. Many women looked up to this campaign propaganda of Rosie and envisioned themselves similar to Rosie. When in fact that it was only typical for a few women out of many to be an actual welder. “In fact only about two million, or ten

Rosie the Riveter was a metaphoric figure used to represent the strength, dirty jobs, and work women provided for the war effort. Penny Colman states “Rosie the Riveter was supposedly based on Rose Bonavita, a riveter in the United States.”

Cindy Sherman was well known for her conceptual portraits, which portrayed to audiences to represent an idea that would be successful at completing the artwork. Sherman’s 1981 work, Untitled #96, was one of many that displayed Sherman herself in various poses, expressions, and style choices that usual poked fun at women’s cliché roles. In this particular photograph, Sherman is shown lying either dreamingly or unsettled by thoughts on a tile floor, perhaps in a kitchen in a very housewife outfit while clutching what seems to be a torn piece from a newspaper. This is where I believe Sherman’s views of gender roles comes into frame with her showing that in this time period women were mostly in their homes alone to handle all sorts of situations.

The artists depicts these women as hunched over, with heads mostly bowed over their work, but the faces that Leslie does depict wear a vacant or tired look. The closest woman to the viewer is the individual who is being yelled at by her supervisor. She stares vacantly into space, as if this is an everyday occurrence, while the man in charge shakes his fist at her. One can assume that he is yelling based upon his expression. His face is pinched as if in outrage, and the addition of a raised fist leads the viewer to believe that he is yelling out of anger. This visual depiction coupled with the raggedy appearance of the women’s clothes, and the plainness of the room they’re in leads me to believe that this is not a happy place to work. Additionally, the only visible light source for the room is two small windows that the artist has drawn in the background. This only further adds to the depressing atmosphere that Leslie has depicted to his

Since the government desperately needed more people to work during the war, they did not oppose to hiring women. Instead, they encouraged women to work in the job industries (Yesil, 2004, pg. 103). All married, single, and color women were to help join the work force as part of their contribution to the war. Women were being recruited into the work force through the government with the use of false description to characterize women. For instance, Rosie the Riveter was portrayed as “strong, competent, and courageous” as a role model for women who joins the work force (Yesil, 2004, pg.103). This propaganda persuaded women to join the work force and women believed that by doing so, they were supporting their husbands (Hall et al., 2015, pg. 234). Though the propaganda campaigns were an exaggeration to recruit women, the desperate needs of workers gave women the opportunity to work in the public like

Sporting what appears to be a blue factory jumpsuit and a red bandana with a white polka dots, Rosie the Riveter really looks the part. That part being the women that can do what a man does. Holding up her right arm while using her left hand to hold her rolled up sleeve and show her biceps. It seems as though she is wearing light makeup, which played into the idea

It is bold in its shape, texture, and color. It is made specifically to the woman who bought it, and is the only one known to be made. It fits with the utilitarian needs of the 1940’s but with the freedom of the “New Look” from after the war. It is masculine but with its feminine shape sends the message of a blurred gender line, and the message of equality in the workplace as well as in everyday life. That equality is something we strive for even to this day.

She has remarkably realistic features and proportions, as well as a short, but feminine hairstyle, womanly hips, and an expression of empowerment. Maybe this was not what the artist was trying to express, but the meaning changes through history, and yet, this piece can still relate to issues in society today (fig. 5).

Even though the company believes it was a harmless message that conveyed the knowledge of women in household tasks, the way it was written leaves little room for speculation. The phrase 'It's her job' brings to mind the stereotypical idea that women should do the laundry and other housework, rather than what the company intended the message to be, that women are more knowledgeable than men in this field, since normally they are the ones who do this kind of work. I don't agree with the message of the shirt, nor do I agree with the message that the company intended the shirt to convey.

The image I’ve chosen for the purpose of this essay comes from The Huffington Post, in an article called, “19 Photos Of Women Working 100 Years Ago.” It is presented entirely in grayscale, which is most probably because of the lack of color imaging systems in that time period rather than exuding an artistic effect. This image takes place in an aircraft factory in 1917, according to the article. The background and foreground are very clearly distinguishable. The woman who is clearly in focus is working on some sort of machine that builds parts for aircrafts. She is looking away from the camera and at her work. She seems to have some sort of strap on her forearm that the other women don’t have. There are other women who are present in the background, but they are out of focus. One of the women seems to be peeking at the camera sort of subtly. The women all seem to have a uniform that they must wear at the factory; although it is a black and white picture, to me, it feels like they are blueish and white. The women are positioned very close to each other in a confined environment. All the women also seem to be working on the same machines that all involve the same items.

In this photograph I see a women who is strong, brave, and powerful. This photo was taken in 1942 in the midst of World War II. She seems to be working on some piece of machinery. By observing this picture, I can possibly infer that because this was taken in the middle of the war, she is now performing a duty that was once occupied by a man. She looks tough, and dirty wearing a work jumpsuit and mask it seems as if she is doing a ‘man’s job’. It can clearly be observed that she is in a factory; she possibly could be working on some sort of assembly line. Also, it seems as if the task she is performing may be hazardous as she is wearing a protective mask ad there is a light shining directly onto the tool for her to easily see what she is doing.

Without a doubt, many can agree that women were considered America’s second class at the start of the struggle. The war brought enormous changes to women's’ lives. Facing discrimination in the job market, they found many positions simply closed to them. In jobs they could find, they usually earned less than men, considering men at a higher class then these women that had dreams of being successful. But then the huge productive effort that began in 1940 gave women the chance to do industrial work, and changed women’s views. As millions of men entered the military services, both government and industry waged to get women to work in the factories with means of propaganda and advertisement such as posters, “Rosie the Riveter” for the well-being of American economy in terms of production. And they did succeed—in overwhelming numbers. The amount of employed women rose from 14,600,000 in 1941 to 19,370,000 in 1944. In the latter year, 37 percent of all adult women were in the labor force consisting in factories, mills, and workshops. At the peak of the industrial effort, women constituted 36 percent of the civilian work force. But to keep in mind, these numbers were likely to be constituted only because of the men off on war zones. At the same time, the demographic composition of the female labor pool shifted. Traditionally, working women had been

This piece highlights the extent to which workers were perceived in society, for example, “a woman sat in unwomanly rags” this image reveals the extent to a which these workers were degraded, they were stripped of their clothing, and even their gender held relevance in their work. Essentially, these workers became slaves to the factory owners, their work was their only purpose and use within this society, and it even encompassed their dreams, “And sew them on in a dream!” Thus, highlighting that women lose their femininity in a line of work that historically was work in the domestic sphere by dominated by women; creating a larger division between the producers and consumers within a society. Therefore acknowledging the disorder and change that the industrial revolution and bombarding presence that capitalism has