Rosie the Riveter!The Role of Woman in World War II

“I have said this before, but I shall say it again and again: your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars.”1

-Roosevelt, 1940

1. History.com Staff. (2014, July 29). US entry and alliance. Retrieved November 12, 2014, from http://www.history.co.uk

Pearl HarborJust before 8 a.m. on December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating

Just before 8 a.m. on December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii.

The barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating.1

Fig 1.

Fig 2.1. History.com Staff. (2009). Pearl Harbor. Retrieved November 12, 2014, from http://www.history.com/

WAR!Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on Japan as a result of Peal Harbor. More than two years after World

War II had started, the United States of America had finally decided to join the war.1

vs.Fig 3.

Fig 4.

Fig 5.

1. History.com Staff. (2009). Pearl Harbor. Retrieved November 12, 2014, from http://www.history.com/

African FrontJust before 8 a.m. on December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating

The first military offensive by the US military was the invasion of North Africa in November 1942.1

Fig 6.

1. History.com Staff. (2014, July 29). US entry and alliance. Retrieved November 12, 2014, from http://www.history.co.uk

Invasion of NormandyThe US, along with British and Canadian forces, invaded Normandy, France on June 6, 1944. 156,000

total soldiers landed on 5 beaches that stretched 50 miles. This was the beginning of the Eastern offensive of WWII.1

Fig 7.

1. History.com Staff. (2009). D-Day. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/

Male SoldiersFrom 1939-1945, roughly 12 Million Male soldiers served during the war.1

Fig 8.

Fig 9.

Fig 10.

1. The National WW2 Museum New Orleans. (2012, July 28). By the numbers: The US Military. Retrieved from http://www.nationalww2museum.org

Female SoldiersAt the urging of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and women’s groups, and impressed by the British use of

women in service, General George Marshall supported the idea of introducing a women’s service branch into the Army.1

Eleanor Roosevelt

=

Fig 11.Fig 12.

1. History.com Staff. (2010). American women in World War II. Retrieved November 12, 2014, from http://www.history.com/

0

40000

80000

120000

160000

Woman In the Military

Army Emergency Service Reserves Marines

Army Nurse

Navy Nurse Pilots

Woman SoldiersDuring WWII, some 350,000 females served in the US Military.1

Fig 13.

1. History.com Staff. (2010). American women in World War II. Retrieved November 12, 2014, from http://www.history.com/

Woman at HomeBut what about the woman at home who served their country during the war without actually going overseas?

Fig 14.

Woman at Home

The economy drastically changed when the US decided to enter the war. Because so many male soldiers were called into duty, the role of the female at home became an essential part of US’s impending victory.

While many woman did join some sort of military branch, those who decided to stay home went to work in factories and filled the male jobs of their husbands.1

Fig 15.

1.Minnesota Historical Society Library. (2013, November 1). Women and the home front during World War II. Retrieved from http://libguides.mnhs.org

Woman at Home

Some of these jobs included1: • Truck Drivers • Repaired Airplanes • Lab Technicians • Rigged Parachutes • Radio Operators • Analyzed Photographs • Flew Military Aircraft across US • Test Flew Airplanes

Fig 16.

1.The National WWII Museum. (2013, May 3). Woman in WWII at a glance. Retrieved from http://www.nationalww2museum.org

Rosie the Riveter

Fig 17.

“Between 1940 and 1945, the female percentage of the U.S. workforce increased from 27 percent to nearly 37 percent, and by 1945 nearly one out of every four married women worked outside the home. “Rosie the Riveter,” star of a government campaign aimed at recruiting female workers for the munitions industry, became perhaps the most iconic image of working women during the war.”1

1.History.com Staff. (2010). Rosie the riveter. Retrieved November 12, 2014, from http://www.history.com/

Original Rosie

Fig 18.

Woman Workforce

Fig 19.1.History.com Staff. (2010). Rosie the riveter. Retrieved November 12, 2014, from http://www.history.com/

“More than 310,000 women worked in the U.S. aircraft industry in 1943, making up 65 percent of the industry’s total workforce (compared to just 1 percent in the pre-war years).”1

Thank You!

Fig 20.

Without all the Woman who served here and abroad, the US Military would not have been as successful as it was.

ReferencesImagesFig 1. Kansai Man, “Zero” April 13, 2010 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution

Fig 2. Marion Doss, “USS SHAW Exploding” June 27, 2008 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution

Fig 3. FDR Presidential Library & Museum, “47-96 1783” September 30, 2004 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution

Fig 4. vasse nicolas,antoine, “WW2 Pacific - Japanese Imperial Army- Archives from Major Shokimi - 1932/42” February 11, 2013 via Flickr, Creative Commons

Attribution

Fig 5. mollder_2000, “Adolf Hitler” May 10, 2008 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution

Fig 6. Marion Doss, “American troops leap forward to storm a North African” June 28, 2008 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution

Fig 7. The U.S. Army, “D-Day: The Normandy Invasion” June 8, 2008 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution

Fig 8. Za Rodinu, “American sniper with comrade's - 1944 France ww2” March 6, 2010 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution

Fig 9. James Vaughn, “1942 ... US tank crew (WW2)” February 4, 2013 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution

Fig 10. Ron Adams, “2 Korpus Polski WW2 - photo 13” August 1, 2014 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution

Fig 11. Marion Doss, “Eleanor Roosevelt at Pearl Harbor” June 18, 2008 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution

Fig 12. Richard, “76 Jills in a Jeep, Tyndall Field, Florida WWII” May 5, 1942 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution

Fig 13. James Vaughan, “... WASPs and B-17” January 12, 2010 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution

Fig 14. Marion Doss, “Line Up of Some of Women Welders” July 2, 2008 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution

Fig 15. Marion Doss, “Women war workers of Marinship Corp” July 2, 2008 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution

Fig 16. Marion Doss, “Stars over Berlin and Tokyo will soon replace these factory lights” July 2, 2008 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution

Fig 17. SBT4NOW, “Rosie-the-Riveter” October 2011 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution

Fig 18. Richard, “105 Tyndall Field, Florida WWII” 1942 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution

Fig 19. Marion Doss, “Daytona Beach branch of the Volusia county vocational school” July2, 2008 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution

Fig 20. BooBook48, “Women's Land Army group dining” July2, 2008 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution