By Rhonda Collins, I Start Wondering Columnist
My mom’s name was Dorothy, but everyone called her Dot. But, she also was a Rosie – Rosie the Riveter, that is.
In the midst of World War II, Mom along with many other women heeded the call from the U.S. government to help the war effort. These women worked in factories and on military bases to supply much needed ships, airplanes, tanks and equipment for the men fighting overseas.
At the age of 20, Mom left her studies at Delta State Teacher’s College in Cleveland, Miss., and moved to Mobile, Ala., where she worked on airplanes at Brookley Army Air Field. Because she was tall, slender, and strong, she was asked to crawl into the nose of the plane to put in rivets – a task her shorter female counterparts were unable to do.
You Can Do It!
From 1942 to 1945, the U.S. War Manpower Commission encouraged women to take jobs traditionally held by men – not just in the defense industry but also as bank tellers, office managers, police officers, and even as orchestra musicians and baseball players, as portrayed in a League of Their Own.
Mom’s cousin Violet, also in her 20s and attending college at this time, left school to work in the office of a railroad company. Many other women held jobs during the war years that employers previously thought only men could do.
In fact, companies throughout the U.S. hired more than 6 million women to do “men’s work” between 1940 and 1944, according to Penny Colman, author of Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II*.
It is no surprise that women were happy to take these jobs because they paid well. Colman reported that women in Alabama could work as a waitress for $14 a week or as a salesclerk for $21 a week. In comparison, Mobile’s new shipyard jobs paid $37 a week--which explains why Mobile’s population increased by 60,000 during the war years.
These high salaries all came to a halt for my mom and most of the other 6 million Rosies following the war’s end. After Japan signed the peace treaty in September 1945, millions of women were laid off to make room for the men returning from war. Colman said that while some women were happy to go back to being homemakers, many wanted to keep their well-paying jobs.
Changing Times, Changing Attitudes
My mother and her sister Rosie the Riveters are an inspiration to me because they changed American culture. Not only did these women serve their country when called upon, they also opened doors for my generation, the Baby Boomers.
First, thanks to these women, the attitude of employers and the public shifted. While the vast majority of women working in “men’s jobs” were laid off at the end of the war, more women overall were employed than before the war, according to Colman. Many employers also kept their female employees because they had learned that women could indeed handle the jobs. Also, society in general was starting to feel more comfortable with the idea of women and men working together.
Second, the attitude of young women has shifted. Unlike their mothers, who were homemakers, these women wanted to work. As a result, both Mom and Violet were in the workforce for most of their adult lives. Not only did they (and their families) enjoy the extra income, but Mom enjoyed working outside the home.
Third, that generation did the heavy lifting when it came to equality in the workplace. They demanded a seat at the table and equal pay. They didn’t always get it, but it started the ball rolling toward equality.
Yet, these women also faced their share of challenges. My mom told stories about the negative ways that her male bosses treated her. She found solace and sisters-in-arms in a local businesswomen’s association and a sorority. Other women joined unions and industry-specific professional organizations or the Women’s Rights Movement to fight for equality in the workplace.
My Generation, My Career
By the time I started my career in the mid-1980s, there was no question that women belonged in the workplace. Although I didn’t face the workplace challenges that Rosie Riveters or other women from the Greatest Generation did, I did have to deal with discrimination and inequality.
My first job after college was providing communications support to a team of 16 men and one woman. It was definitely a boy’s club, where I heard inappropriate sexual innuendos and felt that my voice was always considered less credible than my male colleagues. The most painful discrimination happened after I had been at the job a year, when a male who was my age was hired with the same job title; however, his salary was significantly more because “he had a wife and child to support.”
The Baby Boomers continued the battle for equal pay (and the struggle continues today). Now, the Gen X and Millennial female workers are making more headway with sexual harassment and assault that so many women have had to deal with on the job.
One negative part of the legacy left by my mother’s generation was the notion that we had to do it all. My mother not only had a career, but she was our family manager, supporting my brothers and me in all our activities. She also volunteered at church, at our school, and in the community. She made cakes for the new neighbors and casseroles for friends who were sick or grieving.
Maybe my generation’s contribution to improving women’s work lives was to slow down on the family business. In my book club of 14 Boomer ladies, more than half of us chose not to have children. Perhaps our lives in general were a little less challenging than our mothers’ were since we didn’t feel compelled to be full-time moms as well as full-time employees.
And,it seems that young women in today’s workforce are continuing to try to improve the workplace, as they have a better attitude about what work-life balance entails than we did.
Rosies Valued
Although these courageous female pioneers went unrecognized for many years, Rosies are finally getting the respect they deserve for their contributions to both the war and the cultural shift they began. In April 2024, “Rosie the Riveters of World War II” were collectively given the Congressional Medal of Honor at a ceremony in Washington, DC. Attending the award program were 27 Rosies who received the country’s highest civilian honor 80 years after serving their country by doing “men’s work.”
In addition, March 21 has been named by Congress as “National Rosie the Riveter Day.” To mark this day in 2025, all Rosies and their families will be honored at a special event at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, La.
My mom, who died in 2015 and would have been 101 this year, was proud of her work but seldom brought it up. I bragged about it more than she did to family and friends, because I thought it was so inspiriting that Mom was a real-life Rosie the Riveter, serving her country at a time when many thought it inappropriate for women to be working.
The Rosies of World War II, including my mother, forever changed the landscape of the U.S. workforce and the trajectory of women’s history.
For more information:
Books
Yellin, Emily; Our Mothers’ War: American Women at Home and at the Front During World War II*; 2004
Colman, Penny; Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II*; 1995.
Museums
Rosie the Riveter WWII National Historic Park in Richmond, CA (near San Francisco)
National WW II Museum in New Orleans, LA, has Rosie the Riveter programs and Women’s History Month events
Organizations
Other
Rosie the Riveter Statues and monuments throughout the U.S.
Get your favorite Rosie an official copy of the Rosie the Riveter Congressional Medal from the U.S. Mint
*Proceeds from the purchase of these books will be used to support I Start Wondering's programming for women who have reached mid-life and beyond.
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