Rosie the Riveter

The words

1. Conversion

   Factories making cars or household appliances had to adapt to war orders. The War Production Board described changes to plant layouts, reused machinery and the installation of new machines.

   p. 12 · War Production Board: industry report (opens a new tab)

2. Factories

   Bay Area shipyards drew workers from across the country. Their rapid growth offered jobs but also left many newcomers struggling to find adequate housing.

   Park Service: Bay Area women workers (opens a new tab)

3. Home Front

   Civilian support reached beyond factory gates. Families grew vegetables, managed ration coupons and collected materials for recycling, connecting everyday household decisions with the wartime supply effort.

   Park Service: home-front activities (opens a new tab)

4. Industry

   Not every manufacturer needed a complete factory rebuild. The War Production Board noted that some plants could make military goods by working to new drawings and specifications.

   p. 12 · War Production Board: industry report (opens a new tab)

5. Labor

   In Bay Area shipyards, women challenged hiring and union barriers. Black women faced added discrimination and were often confined to lower-paid work, even as defense jobs expanded.

   Park Service: Bay Area women workers (opens a new tab)

6. Production

   Willow Run’s 1944 flow chart showed aircraft moving through successive assembly stages. Four parallel lines merged into two, then one final line handled finishing and fueling.

   Henry Ford: Willow Run production chart (opens a new tab)

7. Riveter

   A worker who fastened parts with rivets, metal pins used to hold materials together.

   Women’s defense jobs extended beyond riveting. They also welded, tested equipment and operated factory machinery, so Rosie’s name came to represent workers with many different skills.

   WWII Museum: Rosie and women workers (opens a new tab) · Cambridge Dictionary: rivet (opens a new tab)

8. Rosie

   The name came from a popular 1942 song by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb. Norman Rockwell’s magazine cover followed on May 29, 1943, depicting Rosie on her lunch break.

   Did you know?

   J. Howard Miller made the separate “We Can Do It!” poster for Westinghouse workers. It had limited distribution during the war and became widely familiar decades later.

   WWII Museum: Rosie and women workers (opens a new tab)

9. War Bonds

   People bought war bonds to lend money to the government. Children could contribute too, saving coins for savings stamps that they could exchange for bonds.

   Park Service: home-front activities (opens a new tab)

10. War Effort

    Bay Area women also supported the war through volunteer work. They organized bond drives, joined civil defense activities, supported Red Cross programs and entertained service members.

    Park Service: Bay Area women workers (opens a new tab)

11. War Machine

    Here, war machine meant the industrial system behind the armed forces. A War Production Board report described plans to match metal supplies with orders from contractors and their suppliers.

    pp. 10–11 · War Production Board: industry report (opens a new tab)

12. Wartime

    When the war ended, employers and the government encouraged women to leave industrial jobs for returning servicemen. Some women wanted to return home, while others wanted to keep working.

    WWII Museum: Rosie and women workers (opens a new tab)

13. Welders

    Welding was one of several skilled jobs women performed in Bay Area shipyards. Others included riveting and crane operation, showing how broadly their work supported wartime production.

    Park Service: Bay Area women workers (opens a new tab)

14. Women

    Many women had paid jobs before the war. Wartime demand brought additional women into employment and moved others from domestic or clerical work into skilled industrial roles.

    WWII Museum: Rosie and women workers (opens a new tab)

15. Workforce

    A supply of workers also depended on support outside the factory. Wartime childcare centers helped some mothers remain at work, although the programs did not reach every family.

    Park Service: wartime childcare (opens a new tab)