A Salute to Rosie the Riveter

Post #6 for Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler — Authors of Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Woman To” Generation Tells Its Story

It’s the Memorial Day long weekend and for a classic film fan like me, it means a weekend of war films. And I confess that some of them I enjoy watching. The networks have tried to balance their presentation. They’ve shown films celebrating the grit and courage of the heroes of every war that’s involved Americans from the Revolution through to Vietnam. And they’ve shown several anti-war films. But I have just one question: Where are the women? Oh there’s a femme fatale or two, an occasional nurse or love interest thrown in. But we still come to one basic conclusion: War is sad. Men were brave. And during WWII they were fighting for Mom, apple pie and Betty Grable’s legs!

I’ve watched several films that I’ve never seen before, including a very young Clint Eastwood in Where Eagles Dare and an interesting psychological war thriller with James Garner and Eva Marie Saint, called 36 Hours. There were a couple brave women in these films. But the networks forgot to include any of the films that focus on women’s contributions to the war effort.

I had to stop and think for a minute…what movies would those be? Well, there’s Swing Shift with Goldie Hawn about the women who worked in the factories (Rosie the Riveter). And then there’s A League of Their Own about the women’s professional baseball league started to keep baseball going during the war. And Since You Went Away (1944) with Claudette Colbert does look at the efforts of one Midwestern woman and her daughters to keep going at home while husbands and sweethearts leave, die and go missing in action. If you think of any more, please include them in the comments section.

Now don’t get me wrong. No sour grapes here. I’m grateful to the men and the women who have sacrificed for the rest of us. I just wanted to point out that sometimes we overlook the role of women in the war effort. And Hollywood hasn’t been much help.

YouTube, however, includes several videos about women and WWII. You might want to take a few minutes today to do a search on Rosie the Riveter to see what’s there. I’m including this one to get you started.