From Could Not to Please Do

                                                                Women Joining the Workforce 

              From 1772 to 1940 opinions of a woman and her abilities drastically shifted, newspapers went from printing demeaning articles restricting a woman to the household, to praising their “super woman” abilities in the work force. As explained earlier, media had a large role in stifling the woman’s right to vote and victory was gotten by fighting against such publications, but in the case of women in the workforce newspapers and periodicals were the workhorses in the task of shifting public opinion, (including women’s opinions) and encouraging the notion that woman not only had the ability to "hold down the fort" but excel in jobs not typical of a woman.

By Toronto Public Library Special Collections

It would be a lie to say that all women were gung-ho to join the ranks of the dirty factory worker. Let’s be honest women are women, and especially in a time where the ideals of a typical woman were largely based on appearance, women and men alike needed a little convincing that they  could help the war effort while still maintaining there femininity. The media had a simple solution, glamorize women in the work force. Journals showed images of petite beautiful women working in factories, emphasizing the fact she can still look like a woman while doing a job typically reserved for men. In my opinion this is still a sentiment that holds true. Fashion designers show women dressed to the nines in their female business suits while carrying a kid, or on TV showing female police officers looking like beauty queens  in their uniforms, rivaling the glamour of an evening gown.  I myself hold a job dominated by men and I often feel the need to emphasize my femininity through clothing or makeup for some reason unbeknownst to me. Am I and other women alike trying desperately to say WE ARE FEMALES, as if our natural physical appearance didn't already make that fact painfully obvious? Or are we playing up our feminine qualities because by working in jobs typical of males we are still fearful of being subjected to  hateful words attacking our sexuality for wanting to excel in the work place, like the ladies of the suffrage movement often faced? So with this in mind it’s not shocking that the media used emphasis of  the ultra feminine woman in this very successful campaign to get women to throw away their reservations and join the work force.

By Marion Doss

                Women were all over the workforce, practically dominating it while all the boys were on the war front. Now women faced another obstacle from serving their patriotic duty, with a question that women even face today “How the hell am I going to handle a family while working a job? “ That’s where Alma comes in.  The New York Times ran an article about Alma, a working wife and mother who fulfilled all of her womanly duties while still maintaining a job. This was the media addressing the concerns of reluctant women and encouraging the women who were already in that situation to KEEP GOING! Though inspirational as this may be articles such as these addressed the harsh realities of being a working mother without really addressing the harsh realities of being a working mother. It sensationalized their strife, but in a time of dire need I feel it was necessary to tell women they could do it.

      Photo journalism played a large role in the advancement of women in the workforce but photographers often stuck to the petite young women as subject. While Margaret Bourke-White went against the norm and showed tough, strong women in her photo essay “Women in Steel.” I feel that the iconic image of Norman Rockwell’s “Rosie the Riveter”   melded theses two aspects of the working woman by showing beauty confidence and above all strength. It didn’t just depict the “woman” aspect it also showed the “working” part, and for this very reason it was the iconic image of the time.