The Female Icon Behind "We Can Do It Poster"

In our society, people usually seek inspirations and something to look forward to in achieving their dreams and holding on to their own ideals. One iconic poster we have from way back 1940's shows a young lady in a red bandana with white polka dots flexing her arm as a sign of strength.

Nowadays, many images and photos are based on this poster as shown below: 

Even Beyonce tried to recreate the iconic post. 

 A lot of recreations and parodies also can be found in social media. Please see sample photo below. 

It's funny and amazing at the same time as to how famous and powerful it has been. The "We Can Do It" poster became an icon of feminism and Women's Empowerment. It is something that remind us, women, of what we can do, what we can be and what we can achieve in circumstances that many were previously denied of. 

I was just going through some articles when I happened to see these. They became more interesting to me when I learned that the woman behind the original photo herself fought for her own identity for that inspired poster for years.

After the Pearl Harbor Attack, women took charge of males' jobs since the men have to go for military missions. Naomi Parker Fraley, an Oklahoma native, fresh from her 20's, was one of the young ladies who worked in a factory for manufacturing airplane wings. A photo of hers was taken in 1942 operating the machines as a riveter.  This was found and used by Westinghouse, a large electric company in US as an inspiration for the poster. 

It was only in the 1980's, that Naomi learned about her photo. However, it was already credited to the famous model "Geraldine". For years, Naomi fought for her identity since it was her picture that was used for the poster, and not any other lady. She would willingly tell her stories over and over again of how she, her sister and her other female colleagues took part in helping their society during the second world war. It was only last 2015 when she was already 94 when the Court confirmed and gave the title to her as the iconic woman behind the poster. She was very happy at that time. More than 2 years later, at 96 years, Naomi died with pride and honor. She was indeed a True Icon.

(How iconic is she?!? She has her own international bronze statue in London, UK as Rosie the Riveter.)