Remember Rosie the Riveter, the badass icon who represented the working women of World War II? Did you know that Nevada had its own version? Her name is Magnesium Maggie and she’s a symbol of the strength of Nevada women during wartime.
Wartime Women
Sending a great number of men abroad to fight the war meant an increased demand for people to fill vacant jobs. That’s where the women of Nevada stepped in. The term “Magnesium Maggie” was coined by Irene Rostine, a wartime worker herself. The term pays tribute to the women in the southern Nevada workforce, the majority of whom worked at a magnesium plant in Henderson.
Equal Pay Equal Work
Like her sister Rosie the Riveter, Magnesium Maggie was born out of gender politics in wartime America, and here in Henderson, many of the working women enjoyed something denied to them across the country for most of its history: the same pay as their male counterparts. While many industries took advantage of the loopholes in federal equal pay laws, companies like Basic Magnesium Industries paid women the same $.90 per hour that they paid men.
Thelma Lindquist, AKA “Chlorine Kate,” restoring chlorine cells at Basic Magnesium Industries in Henderson, Nevada. (Courtesy of Henderson Libraries)
Do you have a Magnesium Maggie story you’d like to share?
