Mobilizing Women in World War II

1
Mobilizing Women in World War II

• Rosie the Riveter vs. the Mutter des Volkes

2
Mobilizing Women Different Answers

• 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-
• US large media campaigns
• -SUCCESS-
• See Graphs I-II.

3
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

4
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

5
OWI Propaganda Media Campaigns

• promotional campaigns designed to convince women
  to take war jobs
• campaigns included both a national and intensive
  local campaigns
• similar media techniques
• 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.

6
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 mens, and
  suggested that women be told that war work is was
  pleasant and as easy as using a vacuum cleaner.

7
Altering The Public Image of Women 2.

• March 1943 (2nd) campaign, under the slogan The
  more women at work, the sooner well 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

8
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.

9
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

10
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.

11
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

12
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
  nations life
• Within the private/family sphere women play
  essential role in
• i) the biological reproduction
• ii) the cultural reproduction

13
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)

14
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 1934-1944.

15
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

16
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.

17
Conclusion

• 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.

18
Sources

• 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, 1939-1945.
  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_Propaganda_Pos
  ters.html
• http//www.vintagepostersnyc.com/propaganda/home.h
  tm
• http//www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/126_rosi.html
• http//history.sandiego.edu/gen/st/cg3/outline.ht
  ml