Access to paid content on this site is currently suspended due to excessive activity being detected from your IP address 54.156.37.174. If your access is via an institutional subscription, please contact your librarian to request reinstatement. If you are using a personal subscription, please contact the Duke University Press using the Contact Us form.
Andre J. Alves, Evan Roberts; Rosie the Riveter's Job Market: Advertising for Women Workers in World War II Los Angeles. Labor 1 September 2012; 9 (3): 53–68. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/15476715-1634105
In this article, the authors examine classified advertising for employment in Los Angeles during World War II. There is no prior research on the role of classified advertising in wartime labor markets, despite the importance of World War II to narratives of change in women's work in the United States. In contrast to the iconic Rosie the Riveter advertisements, which promoted change in women's occupations, classified advertisements show important continuities with pre- and postwar labor markets. The majority of advertisements for women workers were for domestic service or clerical work, not defense production. Classified advertisements continued to be functional, emphasizing wages and working conditions, and made little explicit reference to the patriotic importance of the war.