The real "Rosie the Riveter"

After watching the movie in class last week about women in work during WWII, I began to wonder what the life of the real “Rosie the Riveter” was like. I began to think that Rosie was probably just part of a propaganda campaign used by the U.S. government to encourage women to take men’s job, and that the real Rosie probably had never riveted anything before in her life. I also wondered if there even was a Rosie or if she was just a fictitious persona.

After doing some research, I learned that Rosie the Riveter was indeed a real person. Her name was Rosina Bonavita she was 21 when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, soon after that Rosie’s fiancé went to war in the Pacific. Rosina took a job as a riveter and made the news when she and a co-worker (also female) riveted an entire trailing edge wing assembly for the Avenger bomber between midnight and 6 a.m. They drilled more than 900 lap joint holes, fitted the skins together and drove 3,345 rivets. Not one had to be redone. Rosie lived a simple life once her husband returned from the war, and after her riveting job never worked outside the home again.

Rosie never considered herself a symbol. “She saw her factory work as a patriotic duty, like selling war bonds, giving blood and learning home safety in case Peekskill got bombed. She never made a nickel off being called "Rosie the Riveter" and never drew attention to herself.” The article goes on to talk about how Rosie become a public figure in her community and had a large role in her local schools and church. Personally, I’m glad the real Rosie was a patriotic American that gave every effort she could to help the war effort, and not a made-up figure used by the American government for their own interests. It gives hope that maybe there are still people in this nation whose interests are for the greater good and not monetary gain…

http://www.islandpacket.com/2011/01/08/1503796/how-the-real-rosie-the-riveter.html

(Rosina Bonavita on the right)