The Rosie the Riveter Memorial Park, located in Marina Bay Park in Richmond, Calif., is the first national monument to celebrate and interpret women’s crucial contributions to the World War II home front.

The park is at the site of the former Kaiser Shipyards, which were the largest and most productive of World War II.

It is located in Richmond because the city in the San Francisco Bay area hosted the largest number of defense industries and war housing projects in the country.

The memorial park encompasses the Rosie the Riveter Memorial, Shipyard #3 (the single remaining shipyard in Richmond), a visitor’s center and an education center, along with other structures remaining from the period, including day care centers, workers’ housing and the Kaiser Field Hospital.

As increasing numbers of men joined the armed services during the war, more than six million women from all backgrounds, and from all over the country, worked at industrial jobs that challenged traditional notions of women's capabilities and ensured American productivity that helped to win the war.

The women worked in defense industries and support services, including shipyards, steel mills, foundries, lumber mills, warehouses, offices, hospitals and day care centers.

The sight of women outfitted in overalls and wielding industrial tools became an icon that was popularized in the 1942 song “Rosie the Riveter” and provided a nickname for all women who worked in wartime industries.

 At the height of the war, women comprised approximately 27 percent of the 100,000-strong Richmond Kaiser shipyard work force. In other industries, women comprised up to 80 percent of the workers.

Their labor on “Liberty” and “Victory” ships played a major role in America’s remarkable productivity during the war years. The park is open year round, dawn to dusk, as are the other city parks within the National Park.

Engraving at the memorial reflects women’s desire for recognition of their contributions to the war effort.

The sight of women outfitted in overalls and wielding industrial tools became an icon ...

An aerial view of the Rosie the Riveter Memorial comes from the memorial’s web-site, www.rosietheriveter.org/memdes.

Official publication of UFCW 8-Golden State Jacques Loveall, President