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The iconic poster that we usually think of when we think Rosie the Riveter was made by J. Howard Miller to encourage women to join the workforce.

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This image was made by Norman Rockwell and appeared on the Saturday Evening Post. The newspaper currently had a circulation of about 4 million, and extra copies were printed, so the fact that this image was on the front had a big impact. Notice the differences between this image and Miller's image? The woman in this image is more masculine, but still has feminine qualities such as the painted nails, makeup, and done-up hair.

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The Rosie the Riveter song, by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb, was also a big part of the myth. Click on the link below to look at full lyrics.

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While other girls attend their fav'rite
cocktail bar
Sipping Martinis, munching caviar
There's a girl who's really putting
them to shame
Rosie is her name

All the day long whether rain or shine
She's a part of the assembly line
She's making history,
working for victory
Rosie the Riveter
Keeps a sharp lookout for sabotage
Sitting up there on the fuselage
That little frail can do more than a
male will do
Rosie the Riveter

Rosie's got a boyfriend, Charlie
Charlie, he's a Marine
Rosie is protecting Charlie
Working overtime on the
riveting machine
When they gave her a production "E"
She was as proud as a girl could be
There's something true about
Red, white, and blue about
Rosie the Riveter

Everyone stops to admire the scene
Rosie at work on the B-Nineteen
She's never twittery, nervous or jittery
Rosie the Riveter
What if she's smeared full of
oil and grease
Doing her bit for the old Lendlease
She keeps the gang around
They love to hang around
Rosie the Riveter

Rosie buys a lot of war bondsParamount Music Corporation, NY,
That girl really has sense
Wishes she could purchase
more bonds
Putting all her cash into national
defense
Senator Jones who is "in the know"
Shouted these words on the radio
Berlin will hear about
Moscow will cheer about
Rosie the Riveter!
_____________________

1942.

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While other girls attend their fav'rite cocktail bar Sipping Martinis, munching caviar There's a girl who's really putting them to shame Rosie is her name All the day long whether rain or shine She's a part of the assembly line She's making history, working for victory Rosie the Riveter Keeps

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One of the lesser known roles of women was the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs. These women got their piloting license and flew planes from factories to bases, carry supplies and munition, and freed up thousands to male pilots for war positions.

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In New Orleans, there was a demand for public transportation, so some women became conductorettes. Conductorettes commanded streetcars and did the necessary chores required, and received significantly higher wages than drug store clerks' position. But once the men came back from the war, the women were forced to resign.

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Click on this link for more about Conductorettes

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Click on this link for more about Conductorettes

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During the Second World War, a labor shortage developed as men began to serve in the armed forces. Women were increasingly encouraged to take over responsibilities on the home front. Women took jobs of all types: skilled and unskilled, manual and office. While men served overseas, women assumed support roles in the military and worked in various defense plants. Though not as celebrated, women also worked in one of the city's most visible industries.

From 1943 through early 1946, more than two hundred females from rural areas throughout the South as well as New Orleans neighborhoods worked on the streetcars. Positions with New Orleans Public Service, Inc. (NOPSI) paid significantly higher wages than the drug store and retail clerk positions typically afforded women. NOPSI trained the women alongside male recruits, and each woman was responsible for the same duties: operating the cars and performing impromptu maintenance; collecting transit fares; keeping the cars on schedule; and enforcing racial segregation within the transit vehicles. In Southern cities, African-American males were never considered for employment as transit operators.

Monitoring and adjusting the race screen proved to be the most difficult part of their job. Despite protests from the NAACP, federal officials refused to suspend the practice of racial segregation in the city. In many instances, white as well as black soldiers and sailors who had trained at bases throughout the South chafed at the Jim Crow requirement as they passed through the city on their way overseas. Soldiers often threw the "race screen" signs out of the windows. Military Police and New Orleans Police officers provided support for the women operators and arrested soldiers who protested the practice.

Once the men returned, the women were required to leave their positions. Most were informed when they showed up to work their shifts. Many were upset to see newly returned military veterans -- not just former transit operators -- assuming these jobs. The last women were released by February 1946. Some women transitioned into other jobs while many returned to household work. Transit company documents suggest that women earned the same rate of pay as men, but many of the women report being paid a bit less than the men, presumably to placate their male co-workers. Fifty years later during a 1993 reunion of the operators, a woman named Anna was celebrated because she had refused to "give up her badge" until threatened with arrest. Women would not serve as streetcar operators again until the mid-1970s, following advances made by the Civil Rights and Women's Rights movements.

Images are from the private collections of the late Mary Fischer, New Orleans' first woman transit operator, and the late Albert McCloskey Browne, former streetcar conductor, bus operator and accident claims investigator.

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WWII Conductorettes and Motorettes - Stop 5 of 9 in the Streetcars and their Historian Michael Mizell-Nelson tour | New Orleans Historical

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During the Second World War, a labor shortage developed as men began to serve in the armed forces. Women were increasingly encouraged to take over responsibilities on the home front. Women took jobs of all types: skilled and unskilled, manual and office.

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Lots of women faced discrimination in the workplace, but especially those who were not white. Many black women found that they were not always welcomed by their white counterparts, and Japanese Americans faced a lot of discrimination after Pearl Harbor was bombed. Women in general were paid less than their male coworkers, sometimes even half. Many Black women sought out the higher paying factory jobs instead of the domestic work that they were usually resigned to do.

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Riveters were people who drove rivets into planes, tanks, and other machines. Two people were required to do this job, the riveter, who actually held the gun, and the person backing them on the other side that kept the material in place. The riveter required more skill while the backer needed more strength.

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When the war started it was urged to get married as quickly as possible. In 1942 alone, 1.8 million weddings took place, 83% higher than the previous 10 years. Two thirds of those brides were marring men newly enlisted in the military.

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Link to learn more about the Rosie the Riveter Myth

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Link to learn more about the Rosie the Riveter Myth

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Rosie the Riveter: Real Women Workers in World War II