Illusion Of Woman And Emancipation: Gender Equality, Women And Their Wartime Contributions

During WWII, the US government employed women in factories to support the wartime economy, including jobs that were typically performed by men during peace times. The government then released a series of posters to celebrate women’s contribution to the war. This poster, “Victory Builders”, was published first in New York City in May 1944 upon Nazi Germany’s surrender. This poster celebrates the contributions of women in winning the war and how their employment contributed to the liberation of women.

Outwardly, the text promotes gender equality. Nevertheless, it is ironic that in a poster designed to honour women, a man has a more significant presence. This disparity signifies that a man and woman are not entirely equal. One can thus question the clarity of the message shared by the poster as it advances gender equality while simultaneously portraying patriarchy.

This essay proposes the argument that this poster’s message is conflicted as it represents factory work as a source of liberation to women and then undercuts that message by subtly implying the prevalence and acceptance of patriarchy in factories to women.

The positive tone used in the captions throughout the poster indicates that women can feel liberated and be thought of as equal to a man if they work in the factories. The captions ‘America’s women have met the test’ and ‘We never figured you could do a man-sized job”, however, defines men as the yardstick by which women are judged. These evidences do not, on their own, support patriarchy. However, the perception advanced by the pieces of evidence collectively, suggest a woman to expect and accept patriarchy in work.

In the text, the man plays the role of the addresser and the woman is the addressee. The pre-assigned gender roles suggest the subtle conflict behind women’s empowerment by insinuating the expected nature of the relationship between the man and the woman. A man addresses a woman and the woman by listening to the man, defers to and is subservient to him. This portrayal leads to the perception of men being more powerful and significant than women.

The white hair of the man informs the audience that he is comparatively older than the woman in the text. Older men, during the war, often were employed in managerial and oversight positions as they are potentially more experienced. The text appropriates rank as an analogue to hint the power of men over women.

The portrayed body languages of the man and woman suggest a difference in the role and importance of the two genders. The woman is facing the man waiting for an acknowledgement. Her body language and posture portray an expectation for women to be demure. By only partially sketching the woman’s face, the text depicts females as not confident. In contrast, the man is portrayed in with a bolder and larger presence. His face is also fully sketched to evoke a sense of confidence.

The juxtaposition of the portrayals establishes the expectation of women on the job to be an unconfident and demure worker with a lower presence, power and importance than men. The use of age, position, body language and pre-assigned gender roles together imply to the women in the audience that men are their natural superior.

From the text, it is apparent that the man is addressing the younger woman and calling her a ‘sister’. In unions, the words ‘Brother’ and ‘Sister’ are used to establish a sense of belonging and build a familial relationship amongst the union members. Superficially the use of ‘sister’ in the caption could be interpreted as a way to imply the acceptance of women; however, it is more credible that the underlying reason for the use of the caption is to introduce the expectation of women to view men in the factories as their ‘older brother”. The idea of domestic patriarchy is that men hold power and women are dependent on older males in the family. The use of the word, sister, draws parallels with domestic life and a women’s experience with domestic patriarchy. The consequence of that expectation is a suggestion to the woman to treat the men in the factories as they have treated men in their domestic lives. It suggestively informs women on their role concerning men in factories and how they should defer to men in their jobs.

When the idea of men’s superiority over woman and expectation of women’s deference to men are combined, it leads to the text setting an expectation of women to consider men as the more older, powerful and important leaders. This sets up the expectation for women to follow patriarchy in a professional setting. Thus the sense of freedom that the job offers is a fallacy as it just hides the social patriarchy in a new environment. A paradox ensues because the social emancipation from patriarchy of females in their domestic lives is contingent on them accepting patriarchy in their professional lives leading to a conflict with the primary motivation of the poster.

In conclusion, this text celebrates gender equality, women and their wartime contributions. However, the subliminal message of the poster by depicting men as naturally more important than women and advancing patriarchy in the factories undermines its primary message of equality. Thus the underlying message is paradoxical and inconsistent with its principal message leading to the conflicted nature of the message shared by the text.

Work Cited :

1. Victory Builders. (1944, May). [A propaganda poster illustrated by Packer for Victory Builders during World War II]. Good work, sister : we never figured you could do a man­size job! America’s women have met the test! Retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/97515638/