Forgotten Posters of World War II

Jenny could not live in today’s world. Women who juggle career and family obligations would not merely laugh at her. They would resent the federal government for creating posters that contain paternalistic attitudes toward women.

From a purely historical perspective, however, these posters are more than interesting. They depict a time in American life that most women working today have never known.

Always the model production worker, Jenny on the Job:

• Lifts weight the easy way
  
  
• Steps ahead with low heels
  
  
• Has her fun after work
  
  
• Keeps fresh as a daisy
  
  
• Gets her beauty sleep
  
  
• Eats man-size meals and
  
  
• Wears styles designed for victory.

Chiding fellow workers with the observation "Home was never like this," Jenny encourages people to pick up after themselves.

Did she exhort fellow “production soldiers to give their all to the war effort? Nothing in the National Archives (on-line) depicts Jenny asking that question. But she really didn’t need to. The government had more effective ways to communicate that message.