Turning Point for Women
Rosie became a major icon for women everywhere and helped influence more than 6 million women to join the workforce during World War II. These women ended up working in shipyards, steel mills, foundries, Air force, etc. They mastered the skills of a welder,electrician, a boilermaker and so on. She became one of the "most successful recruitment tools" the world has ever come across and became an image for working women in World War II. Frankie Cooper stated it best in The Homefront: America During World War II (1984): "... the women were different in World War II: they didn't want to go back home and many of them didn't. And if they did go back home, they never forgot, and they told their daughters, You don't have to be just a homemaker. You can be anything you want to be.' And so we've got this new generation of women."(Mandel) Before the war, only 12 million women had jobs in the workforce, but during the war, the number increased drastically to 18 million. Rosie's impact on society back then directly influenced the way the world is today.