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Mobilizing Women in World War II
Rosie the Riveter vs. the Mutter des Volkes
Mobilizing Women – Different Answers
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WW2: Labor shortage, women needed
both countries trying to reverse similar
depression policies
existing public image of women incompatible
with war jobs
possible steps: civilian conscription and/or
massive propaganda campaigns to change
the public image
different approach during war
Germany: unenforced conscription law
-FAILURE-
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US: large media campaigns
-SUCCESS-
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See Graphs I-II.
US – Institutional Framework
• 1942 War Manpower Commission
– Policy forum, no enforcement
methods
– Organizer of campaigns
• 1942 Office of War Information (OWI)
– US ‘propaganda’ agency
– ‘information’ & ‘the strategy of truth’
• aim of campaigns: sell the war to
women by changing the public image
of the American Woman, the white
middle-class housewife
OWI Propaganda – Use of the Media
• sponsoring materials published
by other agencies
• publishing limited circulation
pamphlets for the use of the
media of advertisers,
• coordinating promotional
campaigns
• monthly guides to magazine
writers and editors, and radio
commentators, suggesting
approaches to allocating time
and space so that the various
media might emphasize the
same themes at the same time
OWI Propaganda – Media Campaigns
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promotional campaigns designed to
convince women to take war jobs
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campaigns included both a national and
intensive local campaigns
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similar media techniques:
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radio shows, spot announcements, special
features
professionally prepared announcements and
recordings made by famous radio
personalities.
special womanpower short films
magazines picture women workers on their
front covers
calendar for retailers with suggested
advertising techniques
advertisers of all kinds of products tie in the
war themes with their ads.
posters & billboards urged women to take
jobs
WMC: special pamphlet for the use of
government officials in areas of labor
shortage.
stencils for use by the boy scouts in painting
sidewalks.
Altering The Public Image of Women 1.
• Three major campaigns
• Each campaign featuring a
different tactics
• First plan (Baltimore 1942) called
for an appeal on the basis of good
wages, equal to men’s, and
suggested that women be told
that war work is was pleasant and
as easy as using a vacuum
cleaner.
Altering The Public Image of Women 2.
• March 1943 (2nd) campaign, under
the slogan “The more women at
work, the sooner we’ll win”
• introduced the idea that women
could save lives by taking a job and
thus helping to end the war sooner.
• positive appeal on patriotism
sometimes turned negative: “Every
idle machine may mean a dead
soldier”
Altering The Public Image of Women 3.
• big campaign in September 1943:
standard appeal to patriotism and
the lure of money,
• still threatened women without jobs
with responsibility for prolonging the
war, but also accused them of being
slackers.
• special appeals to husbands, telling
them it would be no reflection on
their ability to support their families
for their wives to take war jobs.
• it even argued that it was entirely
natural for women to take jobs.
• many of these approaches were
also used to encourage women to
join the armed forces, serving as
auxiliary forces.
Rosie the Riveter
• new public image:
“Rosie the Riveter”
“The Lady at Lockheed”
“The Janes Who Make the Planes”
• Rosie, the factory worker
dominating public image
• but still housewife and mother
• emphasis on the feminine side
• end of war – return to the
housewife image, reintegrating
male labor power
The Media and Nazi Propaganda
• Propaganda as a legitimate tool
• Ministry of Popular Enlightenment and
Propaganda
• Dual institutional Party/State structure
in the control of the media and in
propaganda dissemination
• Aims of nazi propaganda
• Media used: print media, broadcast
media, public meetings, slide lectures,
films, newsreels, posters, badges,
word of mouth, bulletin boards even in
the most remote communities
• Prominent role of the Bund Deutscher
Mädel and Frauenschaft in propaganda
addressed to women.
Nazi Ideology and the Role of Women 1.
• A rather wider spectrum of views
with two poles:
• (1) The ‘misogynic’ view of the
Nazi top elite
• (2) ‘nazi-feminism’ (CIT)
• Common shared elements:
• The main role of German woman
is to be ‘The Mother of the
Nation’ (“Die Mutter des Volkes”)
• Women as ‘the guardians of
racial purity’
Nazi Ideology and the Role of Women 2.
• Life of the nation is divided into
two spheres according to ‘the
polarity of sexes”:
• (1) The public sphere
• (2) The private/family sphere
• Both of those spheres are seen as
vital for ‘nation`s life’
• Within the private/family sphere
women play essential role in:
• i) the biological reproduction
• ii) the cultural reproduction
Nazi Ideology and the Role of Women 3.
• The conception of the role of
women in nazi ideology is not
identical with the Victorian ideal:
• emphasis on physical activities
• women are often seen as similarly
physically and mentally capable of
work as men are
• the status of single mothers is
better
• women are seen as suited for
certain kinds of work (agriculture,
nursing, education, social work)
WW II German Propaganda 1.
• Certain institutional measures for
conscription of women into the
labor force existed, but never
implemented
• Reasons: (a) belief that the total
mobilization was not necessary;
(b) opposition from the top
leadership
• No large scale propaganda
launched in this area.
• Pre-war propaganda continues
altered, the public image of
women is subject only to minor
changes. This image remains
constant in its basic
characteristics in the period 19341944.
WW II German Propaganda 2.
• Changes made necessary
by the war-effort are
presented as an extension
of the role of ‘the mother of
the nation’.
• The life of nation is seen as
divided into two spheres:
• (1) Front
• (2) Home-front
WW II German Propaganda 3.
• ‘Earlier I buttered his bread
for him, now I paint
grenades and think, this is
for him’
• Focus on the biological and
cultural reproduction is
slightly altered by the new
war-related conditions.
• Employment of women is
seen as a sacrifice for the
nation.
Conclusion
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Nazi ideology offered a wider
spectrum of positions on the role of
women in German society. Yet, there
was a dominant image of ‘the mother
of the nation’.
German WW II propaganda did not
alter the public image of the role of
German women. Little has changed in
this respect since 1934.
No large-scale campaign in order to
recruit women into the labor force as
in the case of USA.
This can be interpreted as a mistake
that severely impaired German war
economy. In contrast, the US effort
was a success in this respect.
Sources
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Amherst, Maureen Honey. 1984. Creating
Rosie the Riveter: class, gender, and
propaganda during World War II University of
Massachusetts Press
Rupp, Leila J. 1978. Mobilizing women for war:
German and American Propaganda, 19391945. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University
Press
Yuval Davis, Nira. 1997. Theorizing Gender and
Nation. In: Gender and Nation. London: Sage
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/
http://www.earthstation1.com/German_Propaga
nda_Posters.html
http://www.vintagepostersnyc.com/propaganda/
home.htm
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/126_rosi.html
http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/st/~cg3/outline.
html