We all know ‘Rosie the Riveter,” with her red bandana and “We Can Do It!” attitude, but there was also “Susie the Steelworker,” “Elsie the Electrician,” and “Winnie the Welder” — lesser-known symbols of women workers who forged their way into industry during World War II, despite society’s dismissiveness of their aptitude.
When welding courses started going co-ed in the fall of 1942, the Pittsburgh Press described women “begging” to get into classes at South Vocational High School. The Press article also quoted a course instructor who warned that some industrial plants are unsuitable for women, especially shipyards, where welding entails “arduous climbing.”
But climb, they did. Thousands of Pittsburgh women went to work at a Neville Island shipyard, building landing ship tanks for the Dravo Corporation and American Bridge Company.
Learn more about trailblazers of Western Pa. in the Heinz History Center exhibition, A Woman’s Place: How Women Shaped Pittsburgh.
