Rosie the Riveter

There are more than one Rosie the Riveters. They are not just a poster. However, many people were shocked to learn that Rosie the Riveter was based on a real person.

Canadian women rose to the occasion and they too, like their American sisters did an excellent job, doing the work that was once considered the work of men. They drilled, and soldered, and a became Canadian, "Rosie the Riveter."

Unfortunately, the change the Rosies made was short-lived. The Rosies of this era knew they could do the work the men could do because they proved it, but sadly they also knew they had to return to the home environment when the servicemen came back.

Rosie the Riveter became the icon of the working women in America and Canada alike. They were the wonderful working class women who worked in factories, munitions plants, and everywhere else taking on the jobs that the men had left behind.

I have traced women's rights issues from Victorian times up until the 1940's. However, no discussion of woman's rights is complete without a discussion of feminism.

The movie "Rosie the Riveter" deals directly with the socially constructed category of gender in America. Gender, which changes overtime and varies from culture to culture, is an ideal of manhood or womanhood.

Rosie the Riveter was the symbol that corporate USA decided to use at first to try to convince women to join into the workforce once the military had depleted most of the men for the war effort.