Pop Culture icon : Rosie The Riveter
We Can Do it: You have seen the image, its a pop culture icon. You recognise it from motivational YouTube videos.
It is one of the most requested images at the National Archives of the U.S. Government.
But who is this woman, and what’s the story behind this iconic image?
It all began in America in World War II when the men joined the military and the women went to the workforce.
This image was used to create the “We Can Do It!” wartime poster by J. Howard Miller in 1943 for Westinghouse Electric to inspire female workers in the workforce.
It was also named as “Rosie The Riveter”, after the iconic figure of a strong female production worker. The woman in the image was initially identified as it was 70 years later that the real “Rosie the Riveter” was identified as Naomi Parker.
It again saw a massive resurgence in pop culture in the 1980s.
It became the go-to icon image to promote feminism and other political issues.
In 1999 the image was also seen on a the United states stamp.Since 2008 it has been used in political campaigns specially for female political leaders.
What is interesting is when in 1994 the image made it to the cover of the Smithsonian magazine it garnered a lot of attention.
Geraldine Hoff Doyle, saw the image and innocently identified herself as the woman in the image who had been photographed as a factory worker. Subsequently she was honoured by many organisations.
In 2015, seven decades later the real ‘Rosie The Riveter’ was identified. It was 20-year-old Naomi Parker who was seen in the photograph in 1942 even before Nancy Doyle had begun working.
It’s ironic that a propaganda poster that was designed to boost female morale ended up crediting someone else for the work Naomi Doyle did.
“We can do it” and what this tale of mistaken identities teaches us that even if it takes decades we must strive to, Do it right!
