The second World War resulted in a demand for workers after men began leaving for the war. Due to a lot of the working men in America going overseas as well as the demand for war products, women became a major source of labor. Propaganda began to address women, persuading them that it was their duty to start working for the men. The film The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter gives personal accounts of some of the hardships women faced in the era surrounding WWII, and how the media was used to create a desire for women to work.
The film was mainly the spoken accounts of women during World War II, with a portion of it containing propaganda in the forms of commercials, short films, posters, etc. Once the war began, jobs began opening everywhere, and the demand for working bodies increased
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These openings needed to be filled in order to produce the supplies required for the war, such as ammo and vehicles. They needed people, and since men were not available, companies took the next best thing: women. How were they going to get these women to work these positions? The film shows us the major tactic used was war propaganda. This propaganda was used in a variety of ways. It compared the work typically associated to women, such as sewing and caring for nails, to the new workforce that required welding and grinding. The propaganda used the practices that were considered feminine to make the typically masculine roles seem more fitting to women, in the hopes that it would bring more women to work. Women were also said to have smaller hands that were more precise, which would be perfect for working. This trait associated with women was not advantageous to gaining a career in the past, but with the need for workers it became desirable. Eventually, Rosie the Riveter was created, a character that depicted the perfect working woman. She was working not because she wanted