Did Donna beat Rosie?

Did The Donna Reed Show fight with Rosie the Riveter?

This image is significantly impactful for women. These two iconic characters were pivotal in influencing the role of women in the American landscape. If you don’t know Rosie the Riveter was the character created by the US government to inspire women to move into the workforce. The very same workforce that did not allow them them in previous years. The government and corporations needed workers. Specifically, laborers to fill the jobs that were left vacant from all the men conscripted into service in the military for World War II. Women moved into the workplace with aplomb. They engaged in jobs that were not previous considered suitable for women and made up 37% of the workforce. Rosie has come to symbolize independence and resilience of females and especially females in the workforce. Mary Crier, who was one of the original riveters that inspired the character, became a lifelong advocate for women in the workplace.

The Donna Reed show premiered in 1958. This television show depicted a woman, who was a mother and a wife. She was sublimely satisfied by a life filled with meal planning and the challenges of parenting. She was a docile wife who waited on her husband without real complaint. When the show premiered 5% of households had a television, when it’s final episode aired, approximately 93% had them. The impact of the image of a woman who was fully satisfied with the role of a stay at home mother with no needs of her own had an impact. Both men and women were able to put away the idea of a woman who could build a plane. The concept of a woman who could juggle a career and a family were all but erased. It makes sense that the narrative is confusing for both men and women. When nearly all media outlets are in the hands of men, changing the media representation of woman is a challenge.

               Women are, with increased frequency peeling back the layers of externalized priorities and expectations. As the workplaces can become supportive of the female experience in the workplace, dynamics shift. Menopause as a protected status in Rhode Island, awareness of the profound medical neglect around female reproductive organs by the AMA. The challenges remain and continue to impact women. The most recent McKinsey and Company report stated “Women are as motivated as men but less likely to see a path up."

Just like the companies that survived WW II, through their female workforce.  Companies of today can rely on their female workforce members equally when they support them. So the question remains, why don’t they?

              Did the realities of what Alex Stone’s life look like become so appealing that nothing else mattered? Did the amazing of accomplishments and opportunities for success that Rosie brought get voided completely? Certainly NOT! Women are capable and ingenious and able to engage in whatever work suits them. As the late great Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg often quoted Sarah Grimke, “all we ask of our brethren, is that they take their feet off our necks”.