Committee Substitute

for

SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 7

(By Senators Beach, Kessler, Kirkendoll, Leonhardt, Prezioso, Unger, Williams, Plymale, Palumbo, Stollings, Blair and Romano)

 [Originating in the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; Reported March 3, 2016]

Requesting the Division of Highways name bridge design number 11186 that will carry University Town Center Drive over Interstate 79, at mile marker 153, approximate latitude and longitude of 39.63966, -80.00394, crossing Interstate 79 in Monongalia County, the “Rosie the Riveters Memorial Bridge”.

Whereas, Rosie the Riveter is a cultural icon of the United States, representing the American women who worked in factories and shipyards during World War II, many of whom produced munitions and war supplies. American women sometimes took entirely new jobs replacing the male workers who were in the military. Rosie the Riveter is commonly used as a symbol of feminism and women’s economic power. Similar images of women war workers appeared in other countries such as Great Britain and Australia. Images of women workers were widespread in the media as government posters and commercial advertising was heavily used by the government to encourage women to volunteer for wartime service in factories; and

Whereas, Nearly 19 million women held jobs during World War II. Many of these women had already been working. Only 3 million new female workers entered the workforce during the time of the war. Although most women took on male dominated trades during World War II, they were expected to return to their everyday housework once men returned from the war; and

Whereas, Rosie the Riveter became most closely associated with another real woman, Rose Will Monroe, who was born in Pulaski County, Kentucky. In 1920 Ms. Monroe moved to Michigan and during World War II she worked as a riveter at the Willow Run Aircraft Factory in Ypsilanti, Michigan, building B-24 bombers for the U.S. Army air forces. She was asked to star in a promotional film about the war effort at home. The song “Rosie the Riveter” was popular at the time and Ms. Monroe happened to best fit the description of the worker depicted in the song.  “Rosie” went on to become perhaps the most widely recognized icon of that era. The films and posters she appeared in were used to encourage women to go to work in support of the war effort. At the age of 50, Ms. Monroe realized her dream of flying when she obtained a pilot’s license. In 1978, she crashed in her small propeller plane when the engine failed during takeoff. The accident resulted in the loss of one kidney and the sight in her left eye, and ended her flying career. She died from kidney failure on May 31, 1997, age of 77, in Clarksville, Indiana where she was a resident; and

Whereas, According to the Encyclopedia of American Economic History, “Rosie the Riveter” inspired a social movement that increased the number of working American women from 12 million to 20 million by 1944, a 57 percent increase from 1940. By 1944 only 1.7 million unmarried men between the ages of 20 and 34 worked in the defense industry, while 4.1 million unmarried women between those ages did so. Although the image of “Rosie the Riveter” reflected the industrial work of welders and riveters during World War II, the majority of working women filled nonfactory positions in every sector of the economy. What unified the experiences of these women was that they proved to themselves and the country that they could do a “man’s job” and could do it well. In 1942, just between the months of January and July, the estimates of the proportion of jobs that would be “acceptable” for women was raised by employers from 29 to 85 percent; therefore, be it

Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That the Division of Highways is hereby requested to name bridge design number 11186 that will carry University Town Center Drive over Interstate 79, at mile marker 153, approximate latitude and longitude of 39.63966, -80.00394, crossing Interstate 79 in Monongalia County, the “Rosie the Riveters Memorial Bridge”; and, be it

Further Resolved, That the Division of Highways is hereby requested to have made and be placed signs identifying the bridge as the “Rosie the Riveters Memorial Bridge”; and, be it

Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the Senate is hereby directed to forward a copy of this resolution to the Commissioner of the Division of Highways and the Rosie the Riveters state organization.