Click2History - America in World War II - The Forgotten Posters - Chapter 3

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>THE FORGOTTEN POSTERS</p> <p><font size=4>CHAPTER 3 - AMERICAN WOMEN AT WAR</font></p> </font> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">While the "Women’s Movement" (as we know it today) really began after 1963 (the year Betty Friedan published her ground-breaking <a href="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0393322572.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg" target="_blank"><b>book</b></a> <i>The Feminine Mystique</i>), women of World War II were as much a part of the war effort as men. While they were not combat soldiers or fliers, their production skills helped the Allies to win the war. (Hitler, interestingly, forbade German women from holding industrial jobs. Consequently, the Nazi war machine lagged behind Allied production of war materiel.)</p> <p>Today, reviewing the war posters created for American women, one immediately notices their patronizing tone. That <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/14/17-1325a.gif" target="_blank"><b>paternalistic</b></a> government attitude, however, is also prominent in posters created for the overseas military and the population <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/13/17-1225a.gif" target="_blank"><b>at large</b></a>. <p>"Women’s <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/9/17-0815a.gif" target="_blank"><b>place</b></a> in war" consisted of many types of jobs (239 to be exact) in the Women’s Army Corp. In addition:</p> <blockquote><ul> <li>Women had <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/9/17-0807a.gif" target="_blank"><b>their own</b></a> branches of service, like the Women’s Marine Corp Reserves...<br><br> <li>...And the Women’s <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/12/17-1134a.gif" target="_blank"><b>Army Auxiliary</b></a> Corps.<br><br> <li>A high school graduate could be a <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/9/17-0843a.gif" target="_blank"><b>nurse</b></a><br><br> <li>Or a <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/9/17-0821a.gif" target="_blank"><b>topographic</b></a> draftsman...<br><br> <li>A weather <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/9/17-0817a.gif" target="_blank"><b>observer</b></a><br><br> <li>Or a <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/9/17-0820a.gif" target="_blank"><b>photographer</b></a> for the Army Air Force.</blockquote><br><br></ul> <p>Wives, mothers and daughters - all were "<a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/18/17-1738a.gif" target="_blank"><b>in this war too</b></a>." As posters reminded people, the fight could not be won without a <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/18/17-1741a.gif" target="_blank"><b>joint</b></a> effort. And in war, as in peace, a country is no stronger than the <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/18/17-1755a.gif" target="_blank"><b>individual loyalty</b></a> of its citizens.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="forgotten_posters_ch2.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="forgotten_posters_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="forgotten_posters_ch4.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </body>