Real-life "Rosie the Riveters" were honored Wednesday with the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the nation's highest civilian awards, at a White House event.
Watch the event in the player above.
After the U.S. entered World War II, men who joined the military left behind millions of jobs that needed to be filled, including in the factories that supplied the American war effort.
Today, the women who stepped into those jobs are popularly symbolized by the iconic image of Rosie the Riveter, a woman in coveralls, hair tied in a bandana and her right arm flexing. The name is often associated with the 1942 "We Can Do It!" poster created by J. Howard Miller for the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company.
The following year, American painter Norman Rockwell released his own version of Rosie for the cover of the "Saturday Evening Post."
98-year-old Sylvia "Delsi" Tanis, an original member of the "Rosies," poses for a portrait prior to a Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony honoring the women who held jobs or volunteered in support of the war effort during World War II, on April 10, 2024. Photo by Michael McCoy/Reuters
Work conditions were so dangerous that between the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor and D-Day invasion of Europe in 1944, there were more industrial casualties than military casualties, according to the National Park Service.
"This medal represents the millions of American women who went to work during World War II," said Mae Krier, who built aircraft during the war and spoke at Wednesday's ceremony. "We helped our country win the war."
Krier said the women who joined the workforce during the war proved their worth and were trailblazers for later generations.
"Up until 1941, it was a man's world," Krier said. "They didn't know how capable us women were, did they?"
The Associated Press contributed to this report.