A Wendy the Welder in Newport, AK

I found this article at the Newport Independent about Ruth White of Newport, AK who worked as a welder, not a riveter:

‘Ruthie the Welder’ does her part

With the arrival of Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day, Armed Forces Day and Independence each year, thoughts turn to those men and women who served in the armed forces during those times.
However, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor some 70 years ago, one local woman performed her wartime duties as her husband prepared to ship overseas.

During 1942-43, Ruth White worked in the Kaiser Liberty Shipyards in Richmond, Calif. as a part of the “Rosie the Riveter” crews in the United States.

The crews were made up mostly of housewives whose husbands had shipped overseas as part of the war effort during World War II and they began to take jobs in factories, often building ships and planes for the government.

Those crews spawned a “Wendy the Welder” offshoot group based on Janet Doyle, a welder at the same shipyard as White.

“I started as a tacker and finished as a general welder and welded the seams of the ships,” White recounted recently as she discussed her contribution.

Read the rest of the article onlne–>

West Virginia Rosie the Riveter Park

West Virginia is honoring Rosies at a new  Rosie the Riveter Park:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — They built fleets of Avengers and Marauders, aircraft that Americans flew into battle during World War II. They carefully assembled countless explosive fuses and separated the chemicals for making TNT. Unknowingly at the time, some even crafted parts for the atomic bombs that helped end the war.

They are West Virginians who served on the home front, among the millions of women who worked at defense plants to supply the war effort. They are the real lives behind the cultural icon known as Rosie the Riveter, and they’ve begun telling their stories while they still can.

CONTINUE READING ONLINE–>

Women’s Stories Come to Life at NYU

New Rosies in Pueblo, CO

This video showcases the women who work at the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant, from electrical field engineers to pipefitters, iron workers and other craft workers.

The plant cites that women make up 21% of the total workforce, however, of those only 21 were “craft workers” which is less than 2% (nationally women make up approximately 6% of trade workers)

At any rate, it’s nice to see the company celebrating these amazing women. And remember We Can Do It!

Riveting Parodies

This is a wonderful collection of re-incarnations/ re-interpretations of Rosie. Enjoy!

Giving Voice to Rosie the Riveter

New York University has made their oral history project, “The Real Rosie the Riveter Project”  available to the public.  From the NYU website:

In 1942, with the United States at war and many young men overseas, an acute labor shortage was threatening both the continued output of American manufacturing and the very war effort itself. Industries historically averse to hiring women now threw open their doors, challenging traditionally sexist views and forever altering the composition of the workforce.

During the World War II years, it is estimated that between 8 and 16 million women were employed in critical trades, including automobiles, shipbuilding, aircraft manufacturing, electrical equipment manufacture and transportation. For many women this was an opportunity for independence, money of their own, and seeing the country. At the peak of wartime employment, women constituted between one-third and one-half of the workers in many basic industries, jobs hitherto considered “men’s work.”

Now, nearly 70 years later, 48 of these women’s stories are being told in their own voices. 

 

Get the full story online at http://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2012/01/18/rosie-the-riveter-we-can-do-it-womens-stories-come-to-life.html

And check out their awesome Rosie the Riveter library online

Beyond the Image of Rosie

This looks like a fantastic book scheduled for a May 2012 publication:

Beyond Rosie the Riveter: Women of World War II in American Popular Graphic Art  by Donna B. Knaff from University of Kansas Press.

The iconic bicep-flexing poster image of “Rosie the Riveter” has long conveyed the impression that women were welcomed into the World War II work force and admired for helping “free a man to fight.” Donna Knaff, however, shows that “Rosie” only revealed part of the reality and that women depicted in other World War II visual art—both in the private sector and the military—reflected decidedly mixed feelings about the status of women within American society.

For details, visit the publisher’s website:  http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/knabey.html