First Published: 2:58 PM PDT, July 28, 2021
Phyllis Gould was one of six million civilian women who joined the workforce and worked in factories and shipyards during World War II, the Associated Press reported.
Phyllis Gould, one of the six original, real-life “Rosie the Riveters, who worked as a welder during World War II building warships, died last week. She was 99, CBS News reported.
Gould was one of the first women who stepped up to the call of duty in 1942 when she signed on as a welder at a shipyard in Richmond, California, earning $.90 an hour and filling positions when the men were called to war, CBS News reported.
Rosie the Riveter Phyllis Gould dies at 99 By Norah O Donnell Remembering Rosie the Riveter Phyllis Gould
Phyllis Gould died July 20 from complications of a stroke, her family told CBS News.
She worked at a California shipyard for $0.90 an hour. We had equal pay with the men. I was married, a young marriage, and he was a welder and I became a welder and was making the same money he did, she said during a White House visit in 2014.
She was one of around five million civilian women who worked in factories and shipyards during World War II, which freed men to go fight in the war.
Real-Life Rosie the Riveter, Phyllis Gould, Among First Six Women Hired at Richmond Shipyard In WWII, Dies at 99
A pioneer among independent women in the blue-collar workforce in America, one-time WWII-era welder Phyllis Gould, who went on to fight for national recognition for herself an other Rosies, died last week at her home in Fairfax. She was 99.
While there were some 6 million American women who answered the call to take wartime defense factory jobs, a group of original Rosies in the Bay Area, including the highly activist Ms. Gould, have lobbied hard in recent decades for historical recognition of their work beyond the iconic Rosie the Riveter poster. As the Associated Press reports, Gould was instrumental in helping establish the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, opened in 2000. She and a group of other living Rosies met with former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden in 2014, and she helped lobby Congress
California woman who fought to honor Rosie the Riveter dies at 99 abc15.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from abc15.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
ABC News
Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest?
OffOn
California woman who fought to honor Rosie the Riveter dies
Phyllis Gould, one of the millions of women who worked in defense plants in World War II and who later relentlessly fought to honor those âRosie the Riveters,â has died
ByThe Associated Press
⢠3 min read
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Monday, March 31, 2014, file photo, Rosie the Riveter Phyllis Gould, 92, center, her sister Mary Ann Sousa, left, and Agnes Moore, 94, walk on the White House grounds in Washington. Gould, one of the millions of women who worked in defense plants in World War II and who later relentlessly fought to honor those âRosie the Riverters,â died on July 20, 2021, from complications of a stroke, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)