Blog 1

Leticia Gutierrez

Blog 1

This poster, produced by J. Howard Miller during World War II, was created as propaganda to motivate American women to join the workforce. The woman being photographed, Naomi Parker Fraley, was photographed working at the Naval Air Station in Alameda, California; eventually, she would be known as “Rosie the Riveter.” She is seen wearing a red and white polka dot bandana while wearing work overalls. The woman is portrayed as strong and competent, while at the same time patriotic. Even though she is portrayed in a more “masculine” setting, according to gender roles at the time, she still shows her feminine side by wearing lipstick and mascara.

This cultural artifact demonstrates that women are strong and beautiful. It goes against the traditional gender roles at the time. There was a time period where women were portrayed as “submissive” and given the role of housewife or staying with the children. However, this poster does the exact opposite. Instead of encouraging women to fit into the submissive role, it is encouraging women to join the work force and help the country. Also, the woman on the poster has a very serious facial expression, which makes the audience believe that women should be taken serious. Her clothes also challenge the way women were normally portrayed. She is dressed in work clothes instead of in a dress. In addition, the poster states, “we can do it.” The word, “we,” creates a sense of unity among women. It is inclusive and gives the impression that women are a team. It challenges the regular “norm” at the time and helped transform the gender roles.

This poster has impacted the way I think about my own gender identity. It is empowering to women and makes me believe that we, women, are able to be strong and equal to men. It also makes me believe that we can be both “masculine” with our own femininity. In addition, her appearance is very confident, which portrays that all women can be too.  

According to Wendy Griswold’s cultural diamond, there is the creators and receivers on opposite ends as well as the social world and cultural object. The cultural object in this example is the propaganda poster. The social world in this case is the World War II era, it is meant to act on a time period when the country needed more help in the work force and in the military.  The creator of the poster is J. Howard Miller. Although he was the one who created the poster, the United States government and factories also helped create it. They needed more to join the workforce and help in such a critical time. They helped create a national campaign to motive women to join. The main receivers in this example are women. This poster was designed to target them. However, men were receivers too. They had to accept the fact that the role of women was changing.