Rosie The Riveter

Rosie the Riveter was essentially an American icon to inspire women to become active in WWII. She is a close depiction of Rose Will Monroe, who built bombers during WWII.  Her personality and contribution to the war served as a key to propaganda to women in the war and inspired many to work harder and contribute in some way. I think that icons like this tell us a lot about the nature of total war. It tells us that in wars like this, anyone that contributes is doing nothing but helping. All the help that could be offered was always needed, as it was in WWI, possibly even more in WWI simply because the women had to replace the men in many cases. Overall, I see a lot of similarities between the nature and role of women in both cases.