We Can’t Do It

Geraldine Hoff Doyle, whose image was intended to inspire women who had taken men’s places during World War II, not to mention countless field hockey teams, but was really just another example of women being exploited, has died at the age of 86 of complications from arthritis, presumably developed as a result of her Rosie the Riveter impersonation. The iconic image of a glamorous woman in a bandana rolling up her sleeve was based on a picture of Doyle, who as a 17-year-old in 1942 was working as a metal presser outside Detroit. Ironically, Doyle only had the job for 2 weeks, quitting because she feared a hand injury that would keep her from playing the cello. The image was reappropriated by the feminist movement in the 1980s, when Doyle first saw the image when flipping through a magazine, so her royalties on the thousands of posters and a Time-Life Book cover wouldn’t have even bought the 33-cent stamp using the image issued in 1999.