She's Making History, Working for Victory

I know you know who she is but...

Here is some information on Rosie the Riveter on the National Park Service Website (Click on that and it will give you the full information)...

"Before the United States entered World War II, several companies already had contracts with the government to produce war equipment for the Allies. Almost overnight the United States entered the war and war production had to increase dramatically in a short amount of time. Auto factories were converted to build airplanes, shipyards were expanded, and new factories were built, and all these facilities needed workers. At first companies did not think that there would be a labor shortage so they did not take the idea of hiring women seriously. Eventually, women were needed because companies were signing large, lucrative contracts with the government just as all the men were leaving for the service.

Working was not new to women. Women have always worked, especially minority and lower-class women. However, the cultural division of labor by sex ideally placed white middle-class women in the home and men in the workforce. Also, because of high unemployment during the Depression, most people were against women working because they saw it as women taking jobs from unemployed men.

The start of World War II tested these ideas. Everyone agreed that workers were greatly needed. They also agreed that having women work in the war industries would only be temporary.

The United States government had to overcome these challenges in order to recruit women to the workforce. Early in the war, the government was not satisfied with women’s response to the call to work (Rupp 98).

The government decided to launch a propaganda campaign to sell the importance of the war effort and to lure women into working.

They promoted the fictional character of “Rosie the Riveter” as the ideal woman worker: loyal, efficient, patriotic, and pretty (Yellin 43). A song, “Rosie the Riveter”, became very popular in 1942. Norman Rockwell’s image on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on May 29, 1943 was the first widely publicized pictorial representation of the new “Rosie the Riveter”.A few months after Rockwell’s image, the most famous image of Rosie appeared in the government-commissioned poster “We Can Do It” (Yellin 44).

Here are some of the words to the song about Rosie the Riveter:

All the day long,
Whether rain or shine
She’s part of the assembly line.
She’s making history,
Working for victory
Rosie the Riveter

So, why have I chosen Rosie the Riveter as my symbol for weight loss today you may ask? Well, the words, "We Can Do It" have been echoing in my mind today.

I went to WW to weigh in yesterday and am down another 1.6 pounds for a total of 3.8 in two weeks. It is difficult for me not to be discouraged even though I am losing. I keep asking myself why I'm discouraged when the plan is obviously working for me. Maybe I'm conditioned to seeing larger losses because of idiot shows like The Biggest Loser where people are losing 10 pounds in a week.
Weight loss of about 2 pounds per week is preferable and studies show that if you lose weight faster than that it's bound to come right back when you go off the diet.

I haven't felt deprived at all in my efforts to lose weight. I've enjoyed pizza, steak, ice cream and other snacks the last 2 weeks. I've eaten my points and my weekly points as well which have contributed to me feeling like I can still enjoy eating and lose weight.

I thought of Rosie when I got in the car and said out loud, "I can do it." I just need to stay committed and on the path I'm on.

Writing things down is key. Even the 1/3 cup of cashews I throw into my mouth has to be tracked. If I don't it's too easy to lose track of what I'm putting in my mouth and sooner than later the pounds will start coming back.

So....I've chosen Norman Rockwell's original image of Rosie the Riveter...namely because she was the first and secondly because she has a sandwich in one hand!

I can do it, I can do it, I can do it. Hopefully I can make history, working for victory.