Devin Spencer

Prospectus: The Immediate and Lasting impact of Rosie the Riveter on Gender Roles in American Society

The proposed subject of study in this paper is the World War II government propaganda campaign designed to draw women into the workforce, specifically the Rosie the Riveter image and song. The paper is intended to analyze the images of Rosie the Riveter as a model for the new woman and to explore women’s unquestionable success in maintaining American industry during the war , and the effect this had on accepted social norms and women’s rights in America. To fully appreciate the impact of the campaign’s results, one must first analyze women’s social and economic conditions in pre-World War II America. Before the war, women, despite being granted suffrage in 1919, remained second class citizens in many aspects of American society, especially on the employment front. Women were expected to be homemakers, and let men handle the business aspect of life. It was not until the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and drew the United States into World War II, that millions of men were shipped off to fight an unprecedented two-front war. This left a massive employment void in a time of war, when industry is needed more than ever. In the country’s time of need, women answered the government’s call, as millions went to work in factories and support the war effort. Many scholars speak to the pivotal role women played in maintaining the American war machine from the home front and many address the shift of gender roles in the United States that followed. I feel that separately, neither of these fully relate the importance of the propaganda campaign to American society as we know it today. In my paper I intend to use visual and textual analysis to demonstrate how Rockwell’s painting and the original song presented a model for the “New American Woman” and how, through their pivotal role in the war effort, American woman took the biggest step towards gender equality in American history.