“Rosie the Riveter” Discussed in North English

NORTH ENGLISH – Linda Betsinger McCann, an author specializing in non-fiction retellings of Iowa history, gave a presentation at the English Valleys History Center on Oct. 27 about “Rosie the Riveter.” Betsinger McCann has written 14 history books over the years. She previously visited the English Valleys History Center three other times, to discuss her books about the civilian conservation corps, prohibition, and POWs in Iowa. Betsinger McCann explained that Rosie the Riveter was a nickname given to women who worked during World War II and that her book was based on conversations she had with 35 women who worked as Rosies. She explained that the Rosies were sworn to secrecy and prevented from talking about their experiences until fifty years after the war, under threat of being charged with treason.

She explained that the women were nervous when the war began and they were asked to work in factories, and that they didn’t want to work without their husbands’ permission. She told the story of one woman who wrote to her husband asking for permission; the letter was returned after her husband was killed in action, which she took as a sign to work.

Betsinger McCann explained there were 70 factories in Iowa that employed women, and went in detail about several of them. She discussed the challenges the female workers faced, including lack of training, being forced to use porta-potties during the winter due to a lack of women’s bathrooms, struggles to get to work without a car, losing fingers in the machinery, not being able to find babysitters for their children, being paid less than the men, and harassment for cutting their hair. Betsinger McCann explained that Nineteen million women worked in factories during World War II. Of them, 37,000 were killed in factories and 210,000 were permanently disabled.

Betsinger McCann explained that the women loved their work, not for the money, but for the chance to socialize with other women. When the war ended, the women were immediately laid off as factories closed down overnight. According to a 1945 survey Betsinger McCann quoted, 75% of the women would have kept working if they could have.

“Some people think this was the beginning of women’s lib. I think it was the beginning of women telling their daughters ‘you can do anything,’ because they had,” said Betsinger McCann.