Rosie The Riveter: Encouraging Women in The Labor Force

In the modern society, people immediately presume that the majority of careers such as flight attendants, secretaries and nurses are women and that doctors, pilots and engineers are men. Before the two major wars took place, women were expected to remain within their homes to run errands, take care of the children and become the homemakers while the men served as the sole breadwinners in the family. Women from those times faced systematic barriers because of these “traditional” female roles that they should be responsible of. In spite of that, the sudden occurrence of the Second World War in 1939 changed the views and perspectives of society regarding women in the labor force. During the conflict, the men left their daily jobs in order to serve as soldiers for the war. As the result, there is an increasing need of workers and women were given numerous opportunities in the work force.

To encourage and recruit more women to apply in the munitions industry, the government of the United States of America created the motivational propaganda campaign, Rosie the Riveter. “We can do it!” as stated in the original poster of the headstrong Rosie as she held up her arm and flexed while showing a fierce expression. The propaganda campaign has been deemed a successful one as hundreds of thousands of women entered the work force and were able to work in male-dominated careers and a lot of them joined the military to fight for the war.

The portrayal of Rosie the Riveter in mass media stressed the patriotic need for women to enter the work force. In the concept of the artwork, the artist-researcher provided two 4 x 4 feet canvasses. It forms a diptych and irregular-tiled, mosaic art form which shows Rosie the Riveter breaking out of a mask that is covered with makeup. The mediums used are acrylic paint, satin fabric, thread and rivets. The artist painted over both canvasses with the necessary colors for the background. Each tile of the mosaic was sketched to easily know the correct placement and to use as a guide to place over using the fabric. After sketching, the fabric was then cut into tiled pieces and stitched into the canvas using thread, depending on the color of the piece. Rivets were then attached to the canvas using a hole puncher, a rivet press and a hammer. Spiral and curved patterns were stitched using white thread. These patterns represent change and searching for a new direction in life. The pattern will transition to the rivets that were designed to make angular patterns to symbolize strength, and stability. White loose threads were attached from the face of Rosie to the mask to indicate the movement of its removal. The mask itself represents the traditional norms of women and the feelings they convey during World War II in the work field.

While Rosie the Riveter represents empowerment, confidence and the capability to rise above all the traditional gender stereotypes thrown at women workers. The use of the mosaic and the fabric in this artwork is to let its viewers recognize and appreciate them as a basic art form and medium.