The economic impact of Rosie the Riviter during ww2 Essay

The economic impact of Rosie the Riviter during ww2 - Essay Example When US entered in the war, much of human resources that served auto industry earlier were now picking up the tasks of serving the nation as soldiers. United States was already struggling from great depression before the Word War-2. The unemployment rates were higher. In such a crisis time, World War-2 opened a big requirement for soldiers on the front, and the jobs were emptied in industrial city Detroit. Resultantly, a large sum of American population entered in the arsenal jobs (as well as some emptied factory jobs). Notably, most jobs were fulfilled by American Woman. According to the historical records, a big percentage came from African- American woman who shifted out from their traditional tasks to fulfill the emptied position of arsenal factory works. Immediate Economic support Before the World War, United States was mired in the great depression. Unemployment which had been as high as 24.9 in 1933 still averaged 14.6 in 1944. During the World War unemployment dropped rapidly . In 1942 it averaged 4.7 and in 1944 it reaches wartime 1.2. As a result the image of Rosie the riveter and America as the arsenal of democracy stayed with Americans long after the Second World War was over.3 This historical event soon came out in form of a cult figure Rosie the Riveter, who represents the woman working on traditionally considered man’s job such as welding and riveting. As mention above, Rosie the Riveter came up as a cult figure of that movement named over her. United States’ economy was highly pressured earlier of World War. However, during the World War Rosie the Riveters somehow balanced the production unit of socio-economical context, which had some long lasting effects over State’s economy. Sudden drop in unemployment helped United States to balance the social environment which could otherwise collapse due to high defense budget and comparatively lower number of human resources for supporting industries and home conditions. Many reports i ndicate that rarely any industrial sources had been shut down.4 However, most of the industries had to compromise from their regular tasks and were on a hold during the World War. Comparable to the earlier times, Industries were not in wore conditions than the great depression. Depression had caused many industries to shut down while World War had put them on halt. Suddenly after the Rosie the riveter phenomenon came out as a moment among woman of United States, African-American woman participated in it in a larger number than white women. States reached out to a balanced situation as compared to earlier years of World War. However, Rosie the Riveter moment is often taken as a matter of criticism when it comes to the payment of woman which was still lower than payments of men.5 The Socio-economical change Before 1942, World War had engaged much of lower class human resources. Emptied places were filled by ‘Rosies’ who had a large number of African American women. Neil a Wynn made an analysis which asserts that around 1,000,000 African-Americans were employed, and 600,000 of them were women.6 Noticeable fact is that U.S. had not overcome from the racist troubles till the time. African-Americans had it harder to get into many jobs and mostly it were men who were making money for the family. In such a situation, when ‘