The Richmond Rosies: The Women Who Built Ships

In 1936, 82% of Americans believed that women belonged in the home. That changed with World War II, when six million women filled the gap left by men fighting abroad. The image of Rosie the Riveter, arm flexed in a show of strength, represented working women (and lives on as a symbol of equality today). Director Ken Stewart catches up with five women who worked in Richmond, CA's Kaiser Shipyards during the 1940s. Some were married, some not. Some had kids, some did not. Mary Torres and Katherine "Kay" Morrison were certified journeyman welders. Priscilla Elder was an electrician, and Marian Sousa and Marian Wynn worked as a draftsman and a pipe welder, respectively. If jobs were plentiful, housing was not. Although all five found places to live, they knew others who didn’t. Sousa remembers a night shift worker who stored her belongings in a locker and slept in movie theaters during the day. While the women received mostly equal treatment at work, the increased spending power at home contributed to matrimonial problems with husbands who felt threatened by their wives’ newfound autonomy. "Before the war," Sousa explains, "women were second class citizens. We had no say-so; the men had all the say-so." After the war, the jobs disappeared, and the women were forced to reinvent themselves again, a bittersweet outcome as many would have liked to continue to work. Revisiting a key chapter in women’s history, this engaging documentary is recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)