Cohen was born in Chicago, Illinois on July 23, 1923. Her parents emigrated from the Ukraine to Chicago, and later moved to the Bronx due to issues surrounding her father\u2019s job. Because her family\u2019s financial issues, she was forced to have her first job at the age of eight plucking kosher chickens at 3 cents per chicken. At the age of 14, Cohen added to her work experience by babysitting a couple of children. It was in this job that she also received 36 hours\u2019 worth of flying lessons. The fact that Cohen had many work experience before she even was an adult supports Honey\u2019s finding that most women had \u201cprewar experience in the labor force.\u201d This finding debunks the myth that most \u201cRosies\u2019\u201d first job was working in the factory.<\/p>\n
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Cohen felt the need to \u201cdo something,\u201d she wanted \u201cto do something special\u201d (Regional Oral History Office 11). She responded to an ad in the newspaper looking for workers One aspect of Cohen\u2019s job during the war that she recalls was that was the first time that women wore pants (Regional Oral History Office 11). \u00a0Outside of assembly plant, women were still wearing skirts and dresses. As a result, Cohen received many disapproving stares from non-working women. One women even said \u201cYou still can dress like a lady. You\u2019re not dressed like a lady.\u201d\u00a0 To which Cohen responded \u201cYeah, but we\u2019re working on machines\u201d The other lady \u201cjust walked away\u201d (Regional Oral History Office 19).\u00a0 I find the reaction from these non- \u201cRosies\u201d interesting as they should be supporting what the \u201cRosies\u201d are doing to help aid the war. These women are working grueling jobs building fighter planes day in and day out and people only chose to comment on the fabric that covers their legs. The wearing of pants was not a fashion statement, but a safety issue. Cohen points out how one wouldn\u2019t a \u201cdress to be caught into the drill or into the machinery\u201d as that would lead to a \u201creal problem\u201d (Regional Oral History Office 19).\u00a0 This is why the 1943 documentary by Ford Motor company \u201cWomen on the War Path\u201d and the photographs issued by the Office of War Information (OWI) feature women with pants. These agencies want to show women that there is no safety hazard will drilling and riving. They also want to show that pants provided \u201cRosies\u201d the ability to move around efficiently to create more war planes and thus help their country win the war.<\/p>\n http:\/\/vm136.lib.berkeley.edu\/BANC\/ROHO\/projects\/rosie\/<\/a><\/p>\n![\"n\"](\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/americanicons\/files\/2016\/03\/n.jpg\")
<\/a> to build fighter planes. This job was so important to her that she can clearly recall her first day working in the factory. She remembers how she was instructed on how to use the drill and that the shifts became quite competitive. Cohen mentions that \u201cit didn\u2019t matter as far as the money.\u201d I find this interesting seeing as how all of the $65 that she received was to help her family that were struggling (Regional Oral History Office 13). It appears that if she was paid more or less, it didn\u2019t matter as the team\u2019s sole concern was to get the planes out (Regional Oral History Office 12). It was not about the quantity of the money that motivated her, but the quantity of the planes that her team finished. For her, \u201cit was a very patriotic feeling\u201d (Regional Oral History Office 12).<\/p>\n