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Congress honors Rosie the riveter

"I thought I really was doing my part for the country because [my brother] was lost [in the war]."

Rhoda Carter Carners, 85, an original Rosie

While their husbands, brothers and sons fought in Asia and Europe during World War II, 6 million American women built the guns, tanks, airplanes and ships the men needed to kill German and Japanese soldiers.

Less than a month before D-Day's 60th anniversary on June 6, "Rosies the riveters," as they were known, were lauded by Congress last Monday for their war effort, a contribution that also opened the door for a larger women's role in the US workforce.

They took over roles that had been held by men and had demonstrated "great skill" building "urgently needed military equipment at record-breaking speeds," the Congressional resolution statesO.

Their work "opened new employment opportunities for women from all walks of life and dramatically increased gender and racial integration in the workplace," the resolution says.

The Rosies were symbolized in a famous poster showing Rose Will Monroe, a Ford employee in Michigan wearing a mechanic's outfit and her hair held tight by a red scarf with white dots, as she shows off her muscular arm under the slogan "We can do it!"

"These women really broke the barriers," US Interior Secretary Gale Norton said during a Congress ceremony attended by a dozen Rosies in their 80s.

"These women all developed an attitude that women can do things," Norton said. "Even if they themselves for the most part did not have careers, their daughters had an inspiration."

"It's a shame that we had to have war conditions to help open the doors, but it's a good thing that we kept those doors open," she added.

The Rosies paved the way for reforms such as improved employment opportunities for women, the creation of nurseries and health care insurance.

Two women said they became Rosies after the men in their lives went to war.

"My brother was killed in the South Pacific the first year that I went to work, so I thought I really was doing my part for the country because he was lost," said 85-year-old Rhoda Carter Carners.

Eugenia Holman, from Alabama, wanted to make her own war contribution.

"When my husband, my brothers and my cousins came back home, I wanted to be able to look them in the eye with clear conscience and say: `I did all I could,'" she said.

The Ford car company admitted that it employed only three women before the war: one switchboard operator and two typists.

That soon changed as Ford, Boeing and other companies building military equipment began hiring women in 1943. In four years the rate of women in the workforce jumped from one-fifth to more than one-third.

Productivity records were broken between 1943 and 1945 with the construction of 2 million military vehicles, 300,000 airplanes, 90,000 tanks, 6,500 ships, 17 million rifles and 4.2 million tonnes of shells.

In Richmond, California, which had 56 arms factories during the war, a park was dedicated to the domestic effort during World War II, including the contributions made by women.

Judie Hart, who is in charge of the park, said: "Not only did the Rosies help to win the war, but their jobs in industry challenged the traditional notions of women's abilities."
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