LECTURE 6
What did women who were drawn into the farm work during WWII do
before, during and after the war? How was their social status perceived
before, during and after the war?
Rosie the Riveter:
Middle class women/rich women who worked before the war as maids, on the
land, domestic housework and restaurants. Their social status before the war
was a traditional gender role: mother, cooker, cleaner and carer.
During the war they were working in factories and on shipyards and they were
given the status of taking care of the nation.
After the war they were layed of from their industry jobs and sent back home
with the message to become the same as before the war: women were
positioned as unhappier when they were working because it was seen to not be
feminine and made the whole society unhappy
Tractorette
Even in periods of acute labour shortages, farm people were reluctant to accept
non-farm women to work on the farm. Thus non-farm women worked as
household workers on the farms. Sexual jealousy contributed to this, just like the
lack of skills non-farm women were perceived to have. Farm women themselves
increased their participation in the field work dramatically.
What ideological messages were encoded in the state campaigns during
the war? Whose interests did the campaigns serve?
The ideological messages encoded all had to do with patriotism: Women had to
take men’s positions after they left for the front. The women were lured with ads
posing that the women were also part of the army, the army that wasn’t
overseas at the front, but at home supporting the men fighting. It tried to get
urban women to work on the countryside and in factories and help out with
heavy mechanical equipment on the farms. The interests of the nation were
served during wartime: the patriotic ideology. This means devotion to the nation,
which was the idea of the government. This was spread through textual
encoding: bridging: comparing women’s skills to industrial ones. Positioning one
as determined but also feminine thus heroic, patriotic and glamourous. It was the
women’s duty to serve the nation as their family.
What representational strategies were used by the states to draw
women into the farm work? into the war efforts during the war? How
did they attract women to do what the states wanted them to do during
the war?
Rosie the riveter
1
LECTURE 6
, During the war: pamphlets, ads on the radio, short films, songs. Giving free
education to become a factory worker. Comparing factory work to specific
domestic work. Positioning the women as a hidden army caring for the army
overseas. Rosie was seen as a rational war worker. The songs were for example
about not being absent at work. Women were lured in working in factories and
the fields because the men were working for them, and they had to do
something back.
Tractorette
The strategy to encourage women’s participation in field work is two-fold: to
recruit nonfarm women as wartime farm workers and to convince farm women to
expand their existing duties on the farm. The campaign emphasized women’s
use of modern farm technology. The representation stressed the women’s use of
mechanized equipment. The campaigns portray a smiling, jumpsuit-clad young
woman flashing a V for Victory. The smiling woman symbolizes just like Rosie a
competence in using equipment to perform men’s work. Yet women were not
seen as competent enough for large chores, only for smaller chores and tasks
around the farm. The city women working on the land did not work with
machinery. This wasn’t very motivating for women. Just like that the wages in
plants were higher than on the land. Propagandist thus also encouraged farm
women to step up their gardening activities during wartime. They emphasized
women’s use of motorized equipment like driving tractors.
Magazine covers contained photographs of farm women and girls performing
field work on Midwestern farms.
Also free education to learn to work with heavy farming equipment was offered.
Who were included in the state campaigns during the war? How were
they represented? How did they reflect the reality of the women who
worked on farms during the war?
Included were women who were white and working class. They were portrayed as
strong, almost independent workers. The campaigns did not reflect the reality:
the work was dangerous and it was hard to both work and maintain a family. This
was not portrayed in the ads. Yet the women liked the work since it gave them a
sense of freedom.
Tractorette
White women were portrayed in the advertisements. Pamphlets were offered on
how farm women might reduce their domestic burdens in order to increase their
field work and farm women were lessons provided on how to operate farm
machinery. Wartime propaganda did acknowledge the importance of farm
women’s work to American agriculture and gave their work new status, even
though much of the publicity did not provide an accurate picture of farm
women’s wartime experience. Popular press portrayed young women since they
were less hampered by the care of young children.
2
LECTURE 6
What did women who were drawn into the farm work during WWII do
before, during and after the war? How was their social status perceived
before, during and after the war?
Rosie the Riveter:
Middle class women/rich women who worked before the war as maids, on the
land, domestic housework and restaurants. Their social status before the war
was a traditional gender role: mother, cooker, cleaner and carer.
During the war they were working in factories and on shipyards and they were
given the status of taking care of the nation.
After the war they were layed of from their industry jobs and sent back home
with the message to become the same as before the war: women were
positioned as unhappier when they were working because it was seen to not be
feminine and made the whole society unhappy
Tractorette
Even in periods of acute labour shortages, farm people were reluctant to accept
non-farm women to work on the farm. Thus non-farm women worked as
household workers on the farms. Sexual jealousy contributed to this, just like the
lack of skills non-farm women were perceived to have. Farm women themselves
increased their participation in the field work dramatically.
What ideological messages were encoded in the state campaigns during
the war? Whose interests did the campaigns serve?
The ideological messages encoded all had to do with patriotism: Women had to
take men’s positions after they left for the front. The women were lured with ads
posing that the women were also part of the army, the army that wasn’t
overseas at the front, but at home supporting the men fighting. It tried to get
urban women to work on the countryside and in factories and help out with
heavy mechanical equipment on the farms. The interests of the nation were
served during wartime: the patriotic ideology. This means devotion to the nation,
which was the idea of the government. This was spread through textual
encoding: bridging: comparing women’s skills to industrial ones. Positioning one
as determined but also feminine thus heroic, patriotic and glamourous. It was the
women’s duty to serve the nation as their family.
What representational strategies were used by the states to draw
women into the farm work? into the war efforts during the war? How
did they attract women to do what the states wanted them to do during
the war?
Rosie the riveter
1
LECTURE 6
, During the war: pamphlets, ads on the radio, short films, songs. Giving free
education to become a factory worker. Comparing factory work to specific
domestic work. Positioning the women as a hidden army caring for the army
overseas. Rosie was seen as a rational war worker. The songs were for example
about not being absent at work. Women were lured in working in factories and
the fields because the men were working for them, and they had to do
something back.
Tractorette
The strategy to encourage women’s participation in field work is two-fold: to
recruit nonfarm women as wartime farm workers and to convince farm women to
expand their existing duties on the farm. The campaign emphasized women’s
use of modern farm technology. The representation stressed the women’s use of
mechanized equipment. The campaigns portray a smiling, jumpsuit-clad young
woman flashing a V for Victory. The smiling woman symbolizes just like Rosie a
competence in using equipment to perform men’s work. Yet women were not
seen as competent enough for large chores, only for smaller chores and tasks
around the farm. The city women working on the land did not work with
machinery. This wasn’t very motivating for women. Just like that the wages in
plants were higher than on the land. Propagandist thus also encouraged farm
women to step up their gardening activities during wartime. They emphasized
women’s use of motorized equipment like driving tractors.
Magazine covers contained photographs of farm women and girls performing
field work on Midwestern farms.
Also free education to learn to work with heavy farming equipment was offered.
Who were included in the state campaigns during the war? How were
they represented? How did they reflect the reality of the women who
worked on farms during the war?
Included were women who were white and working class. They were portrayed as
strong, almost independent workers. The campaigns did not reflect the reality:
the work was dangerous and it was hard to both work and maintain a family. This
was not portrayed in the ads. Yet the women liked the work since it gave them a
sense of freedom.
Tractorette
White women were portrayed in the advertisements. Pamphlets were offered on
how farm women might reduce their domestic burdens in order to increase their
field work and farm women were lessons provided on how to operate farm
machinery. Wartime propaganda did acknowledge the importance of farm
women’s work to American agriculture and gave their work new status, even
though much of the publicity did not provide an accurate picture of farm
women’s wartime experience. Popular press portrayed young women since they
were less hampered by the care of young children.
2
LECTURE 6
