This harkens to some of the points some other commenters have made in this thread. Earning $7/hour in 1970 for a welding job is equivalent of $95k/year in 2019 money.

Similarly, getting a start and sticking it out is just as difficult for women today as it was in the pre-war era. The post war period has been ingrained as the normal baseline in our collective imaginations, though it is anything but normal.

I am willing to wager that Rosie the Riveter isn't the norm for the US and if she or your aunt was trying to make it as a welder, they both will not find the supportive environment that existed post-war