Women on Wheels: Rosie the Riveter
For this week’s Women on Wheels, we’re waxing nostalgic, and reminding you of American cultural icon Rosie the Riveter, who represents the six million women who worked in manufacturing plants producing everything from munitions to jeeps and tanks during World War II.
Most people think of Rosie as a fictional character created for advertising posters, with her flexed muscle and WE CAN DO IT cheer urging patriotism, and standing for the American war effort, as well as feminist sensibilities, but there was actually a real Rosie.
Her name was Ms. Rose Will Monroe, and she was born in Pulaski County, Kentucky in 1920, moving to Michigan during the war. She worked as a riveter at the Willow Run Aircraft Factory in Ypsilanti, MI, building B-24 and B-29 bombers.
As well, Monroe starred in a promotional film about the war effort, and was featured in a poster campaign.
Today, women work beside men on factory floors, as well as in design studios, though they are still underrepresented in the boardroom. Spare them a thought the next time you’re sitting in your 2008 Ford Mustang, spare a thought for some of the first women to ever work at a Ford plant…and for Rosie the Riveter, one of our most famous women on wheels.
October 30th, 2007 at 7:37 am
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