|
 Now, seven decades after World War Two ended, a surviving
handful of the women who marched into factories and shipyards,
redefining workplace gender roles to help keep America's
military assembly lines running, will be honored on Tuesday as
part of a National Rosie the Riveter Day celebration.
"Well it's about time," said Marian Sousa, 91, of El Sobrante,
California, who worked as a "draftsman" creating blueprints for
warships at the Kaiser Shipyard during the 1940s. "It shows that
women are not only capable now, but they were capable then. Yes,
the recognition will be nice."
Sousa and a half a dozen other Rosies, all now in their 80s and
90s, will be feted for the first time with speeches and a U.S.
Senate resolution at the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front
National Historical Park, which opened in 2000 just north of San
Francisco in Richmond, California.
Sousa's sister, Phyllis Gould, 95, and fellow Rosie worker Anna
“Mae” Krier, 91, of Levittown, Pennsylvania, were the two women
who pushed for a national day of recognition for the last few
years.
“This is big,” Gould said in an interview on Monday. “Really
big.”
Gould was among the first six women to work as Navy-certified
journeyman welders at the Kaiser-Richmond shipyards in the
1940s. It irks her that her slice of history is often
overlooked.
"The work that the women did during the war is totally
forgotten," Gould said, "and it shouldn't be."
Krier flew to Washington for a separate but related event to be
attended by Senator Bob Casey, of Pennsylvania, a chief sponsor
of the Rosie resolution, and other members of Congress.
Facing a labor shortage as many able-bodied males joined the
Armed Forces between 1940 and 1945, America's industrial arsenal
turned to women to help fill jobs previously reserved strictly
for men to produce ships, planes, munitions and other war
supplies.
[to top of second column] |
The share of U.S. jobs occupied by women grew from 27 percent to 37
percent during the war years, with nearly one in four married women
working outside the home by 1945, according to the National Park
Service.
The Senate resolution pays tribute to 16 million women it says
worked or volunteered for the U.S. war effort, including many who
toiled for the American Red Cross, hospitals, rationing boards and
other non-factory settings.
The phenomenon was captured in the iconic "We Can Do It!" posters
from the era, picturing a determined-looking woman in blue factory
togs, her hair swept back in a red scarf, rolling up a sleeve to
show off her biceps.
“The ‘Rosies’ helped our nation win World War II, and inspired
generations who continue to follow in their footsteps," U.S.
Representative Jared Huffman, of California, said in a statement.
Marian Wynn, 91, a former welder now living in Fairfield,
California, agreed the honor was long overdue.
"We wouldn't have won the war without the women,” she said. “I think
we deserve it."
(Editing by Steve Gorman and Leslie Adler)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
