rosie the riveter

““Mainstream” (def.)Mainstream” (def.)

Daily publication (vs. weekly)Daily publication (vs. weekly) Advertising revenuesAdvertising revenues CirculationCirculation Reporters’ references to official (government, Reporters’ references to official (government,

business, institutional) sources vs. individuals business, institutional) sources vs. individuals or outliersor outliers

Traditional news frames vs. minority positionsTraditional news frames vs. minority positions Not monolithic—many perspectives possibleNot monolithic—many perspectives possible

Getting women Getting women into the into the

workforce:workforce:Mainstream Mainstream

journalism as wartime journalism as wartime propagandapropaganda

OutlineOutline

I. Timeline

II. Propaganda techniques

III. Mainstream propaganda for mainstream change

IV. Seeds of change

V. Trajectory chart

I. Time-lineI. Time-line

1940-441940-44 Number of women at work Number of women at work increases by 50 percent; 7 increases by 50 percent; 7 million women take non-million women take non-traditional jobs.traditional jobs.

Def. of “women’s work” and Def. of “women’s work” and place of work changed.place of work changed.

I. Time-line (cont.)

1940 12 million women work outside the home

12/11, 1941—Germany declares war on US1944 19 million women work outside

the home (plus 58 percent)

I. Time-line (cont.)I. Time-line (cont.)

May 8, 1945 — War ends in EuropeMay 8, 1945 — War ends in Europe

Aug. 14, 1945—War ends in Asia Aug. 14, 1945—War ends in Asia (Japan)(Japan)

I. Time-line (cont.)I. Time-line (cont.)

1946 One million women remain in newly feminized jobs in industry; two million in office jobs.

II. Propaganda techniques

A. The media

1. Radio

2. Newspapers

3. Magazines

B. Pictures tell the storyB. Pictures tell the story

The NY TimesThe NY Times (Fall 1941) (Fall 1941) LifeLife NewsweekNewsweek Christian Science MonitorChristian Science Monitor The NationThe Nation Margaret Bourke-WhiteMargaret Bourke-White

Norman Rockwell’s “Rosie the Riveter” cover for The Saturday Evening Post, 29 May 1943.

Margaret Bourke-White,self-portrait, 1943

Margaret Bourke-White, 1937

III. Mainstream propaganda for III. Mainstream propaganda for mainstream ideological changemainstream ideological change

A. Pre-war ideological normsA. Pre-war ideological norms

Women worked Women worked onlyonly at home (child- at home (child-rearing and housework).rearing and housework).

Looking pretty (glamour) was a Looking pretty (glamour) was a prime source of social currency and prime source of social currency and power for women.power for women.

Men worked Men worked onlyonly outside the home outside the home as primary providers.as primary providers.

III. B. How change took place

Social theory

How much change was there?

“Hegemony” — Antonio Gramsci, Frankfurt School, Marxist

(def.) When a subordinate group consents to the terms of its own subordination.

Hegemony involves these effects:

— Subordinate groups stay subordinate.

— Dominant groups stay dominant.

— The overall system keeps going.

III. C. “The Beauty Myth:” How women were persuaded to change AND stayed the same, at once.

Concepts:Aesthetics = ideology

Gender roles

III. D. Valorizing femininity: In praise of normal attributes• Finger dexterity

• Moral energy

• Physical energy

• Attention to detail

III—Summary: Mainstream media and social control

• Media changed social rules, but not broader principles of social organization

• Principle protected: The Fourth Estate as a key rule-maker.

IV. Seeds of change

A. Daycare

B. Race

C. Social movements

V. Trajectory chartV. Trajectory chart• Outsiders? No ideological opposition within the American media.

• Goal for change? To mobilize the whole ideological system against Nazism and the Axis powers.

•Mainstream press’s ideological base? Wartime propaganda to get women into the workforce without upsetting the dominant institutional power structure.

• Outcome? Mainstream journalism changed mainstream “rules” re: women, work, and the home; Overall: Victory over Japan and Germany.