But who exactly was Rosie the Riveter?

And what's the real story behind her well known image?

To start with, it's not really about a riveter named Rosie.

It's not even about one woman, but about millions.

After the United States entered World War Two in late 1941 government and industrial leaders called on American women to join the work force in order to replace manpower loss.

When men enlisted a soldier's some six million would answer that call.

Between 1940 in 1945 the female demographic of the national workforce increased from 27% to nearly 37%.

Half of these working women took on tough jobs and defense industries.

Rosie was first introduced to the public in a popular song called Rosie the Riveter.

Released in early 1943.

The song was made famous by swing band leader James Kern.

Kay Kyser Norman Rockwell had undoubtedly heard this song when he painted a female riveter on her lunch break for the Memorial Day issue of the Saturday evening post that year posed like the Prophet Isaiah in Michelangelo's famous fresco in the Sistine Chapel ceiling, she rests her foot on a battered copy of Hitler's mind, Come for riveting gun rests on her lap, while her lunchbox clearly reads Rosie.

Rockwell's model was a dental hygienist named Mary Keith.

But was there a riel, Rosie the Riveter?

After Rockwell's cover appeared on news stands, the press lost no time in casting real life.

Rosie's one of the most well known was Rose Will Monroe, who worked as a riveter B 24 be 49 bomber airplanes at the Willow Run aircraft factory in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Monroe appeared in a promotional video for war bonds after a chance run in with a Hollywood actor filming at the factory.

But Rosie the Riveter was bigger than just one woman.

She was a symbol of the wartime work and sacrifice of millions.

Though Rockwell painting was the original depiction of Rosie, she is most widely identified with a different image.

In 1942 the year before the rosy song was released, the Westinghouse power company commissioned J.

Howard Miller to create a promotional poster that would boost morale among its employees.

Now famous poster featured a bandanna clad woman flexing her arm muscles under the slogan We Can Do It.

Due to copyright restrictions on Rockwell's work, Miller's We Can Do It poster was adopted by the feminist movement of the 19 eighties as a modern symbol of female empowerment.

It is now the image most commonly associated with Rosie, from wartime propaganda to feminist symbol, Rosie has remained a riveting icon in American history.