Women Join the Work Force
Propaganda in the early 1940s encouraged women to join the work force. Rosie the Riveter was a propaganda character that positively influenced women to join the United States manufacturing industries. There were songs and posters made about her. A popular poster depicted a woman dressed in a man’s clothes and showing off her bicep muscles. This poster character symbolized women working in the manufacturing industries during the early 1940s. When men were drafted to fight in the war, women had to step in and take on the jobs that were left behind. Women worked in naval shipyards, lumber mills, steel mills, and foundries. They worked as welders, mechanics, electricians, boilermakers, engineers, police officers, taxicab drivers, and members of federal government services. Women also operated buses, tractors, and cranes. Women were needed to work in industries because planes, tanks, and many other materials were needed in the war.