The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter Essay -- American History

The film tit lead, The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter, looks at the roles of women during and after World War II within the U.S. The film interviews five women who had see the World War II effects in the U.S, two who were Caucasian and three who were African American. These five women, who were among the millions of women recruited into skilled male-oriented jobs during World War II, shared sharpness into how women were treated, viewed and mainly controlled. Along with the interviews are clips from U.S. government propaganda films, news reports from the media, March of Time films, and newspaper stories, all depicting how women are to take the mens places to redeem up with industrial production, while reassured that their duties were fulfilling the patriotic and feminine role. After the war the government and media had changed their message as women were to resume the role of the housewife, maid and sire to stay out of the way of returning soldiers. Thus the patriotic and f eminine role was nothing but a mystified tactic the government apply to maintain the American economic structure during the world war period. It is the contention of this paper to explore how several groups of women were treated as mindless individuals that could be controlled and wedded of through the government arranging social institutions, media manipulation and propaganda, and assumptions behind womens tendencies which forced Rosie the Riveter to become a male dominated concept. Since the war began women were led to believe that they were the ones who had to be the patriotic sacrifice until the men came home from war. The film reveals how the government used the media to alternately urge women to give up such elements of their feminin... ...owards to a greater extent love stories. Essentially more forms of propaganda ensued to let women know what they should be doing. More domestic jobs became available such as being a maid, restaurant work, dishwashing and cleaning. Howeve r women who worked war jobs wanted their own maids now so they could pursue their own dreams. They felt inspired and accomplished. Lola Wiexl mentioned that although skills within the workforce were easily learned, within the home base traditions still persisted. Lola herself said shed go home cook, clean and do the laundry while her brother laid on the couch. She didnt question it before but she was smoldering about it for years after her war time experience. Thus patriarchal hegemonies still existed after the war and were perpetuated by the government and media as much as possible to solicit women who participated in activities outside of the home.