Rosie the Riveter

One of the most famously American pieces of art in history is the iconic poster with a woman flexing her arm, staring boldly out from the paper with the words "We Can Do It" printed above her image. This image, created by Norman Rockwell, is representative of many American women who chose to engage in work outside of the domestic sphere, specifically in the industrial plants that aided in the war effort. The name of the woman on the poster is "Rosie the Riveter", a nickname which spread to almost all woman in the wartime industrial sect.

The real-life Rosie was based on a woman named, Rose Will Monroe, working for the Ford Motor Company aircraft assembly line during the war. She was found by Walter Pidgeon who suggested to a director that Monroe take on the role of herself in a government video promoting the war. With that video Rosie, the Riveter became a symbol of all woman working for the war effort. Her image was put on posters and even in songs. In 1942 John Jacob Loeb and Redd Evans wrote a song about Rosie the Riveter, driving Rosie to further fame. This propaganda aided the government in getting women to begin working outside of the home, taking on the jobs of the men at war, all for the war effort. Advertisements in magazines also helped to convince women to go to work, also as a part of the government campaign.

The number of women who chose to work outside of the domestic sphere greatly increased during World War Two, from 27% of women working outside of the home in 1940 to 37% in 1945. Additionally, the sectors that the women worked in drastically changed as well. For example, women made up 65% of the aviation industry during the war compared to a mere 1% in pre-war years. These women also increased their numbers in other parts of the industrial economy by helping to construct boats and other vessels used by the military. Even women with small children were not prevented from working because many plants and factories had child care centers where women could drop off their children while they worked. Additional barriers were broken down with the influx of women in the workforce, an increased number of minority workers participated in the American economy. Finally, about six million women worked in factories in the Second World War, without them the United States would not have remained the industrial powerhouse that it is nor would the war have gone the way it did.

sources
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/rosie-the-riveter
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1656.html