




In our countries past, the two World Wars that have been fought have shaped much of our people’s history and perspective of the world. While many families contain someone who had fought in these wars, most others had loved ones here at home. Many individuals and efforts were needed on the home front in order for the United States to be successful in the war. These tasks at home were promoted with propaganda posters on every street. One of these types of propaganda posters were promoting growing your own food in gardens. These were called Dig for Victory posters because this was the saying they depicted, and the practice of the time. These posters help depict the impact of woman and propaganda during the world wars. 

Victory gardens were created in almost every household in the United States so families could be growing their own food. This was helpful to the war effort because if families at home did not need as many processed goods, more would be available to the troops overseas. This type of process was also encouraged since much of the population was off at war. This caused the number of people in the workforce to plummet, making many jobs vacant, causing small issues such as the transportation of food to the markets to be over looked. The ones whose jobs were vacant because they were off at war were mostly the men, since woman could only acquire small jobs in the war effort such as nursing, and not ones of combat until the Second World War. Even at this point, the numbers were at a minimum. This suggests that for most of the people on the home front were females. For this reasoning, many of the victory garden posters contained a picture of a woman. Woman took over many of the jobs at home, and became an otherwise large part of the war effort. 

During the World Wars, especially the First, woman had to take over many of the important jobs and roles men left behind to go and fight. This included many things, but also the growing of the victory gardens and similarly having to be the complete care giver for one’s family. Before this war, most woman in America fulfilled the typical stereotypes of the time. This includes cooking for the whole family, taking care of the house, and also having the job of watching over the kids be her only profession, instead of getting a job. This is because the responsibility of making money to support one’s family was left to the men of the house hold. When woman no longer had their husbands to do this for the family, they had to take over the obligation. This meant females were entering into the work force for jobs that were not considered feminine at the time. Jobs such as missile building for the war, and all factory jobs were now being led by woman, making them seem much stronger and more capable then the population had thought beforehand. Woman not only had to take over the jobs men left behind, but also the war-related jobs that were now needed (214 Goodwin). This type of opportunity woman were given in this country allowed woman to see they could perform the same exact jobs as men, and although woman employment decreased slightly once the war effort was over since the men came back and reclaimed their jobs, the trend afterward only increased as many women had now gotten the taste of power and did not want to give that away. 

Woman not only took over employment once the men were gone, but also participated in many volunteer organizations as they had beforehand as well. Some of the new kinds of volunteering included helping soldiers in the war. This can include the victory gardens that were built by many woman and their families during the conflicts. Also, woman would prepare supplies to be sent over for the injured soldiers to help in their fight to stay alive. Those who were not injured could receive care packages to try to bring any ounce of joy to them in the harsh situations they were going through. Women were involved in the war effort in ways that had never been seen before, and the propaganda posters had a large effect on this increase.

Propaganda posters at home almost always contained a female object as its main focus. Since they were the main population that were affected by the events occurring in the posters, this strategy allowed the woman to see themselves in the place of the person on the poster. This was the purpose of the creation of this war time propaganda. Propaganda was directed towards the Homefront to support the war effort and help restructure the economy and society while also showing civilians how important they are in the effort (439 Cull). It helped all kinds of people take their part in the wars and make them not only something the soldiers had to fight in, but something everyone was involved in and effected by. Posters had many different war efforts on them, allowing everyone to find something they would be willing and capable of doing to help. 

This concept of propaganda feels as though it is a means of getting people to do what you want them to do, even if not directly told. These posters depicted things people could not resist. The country at the time needed help, which was very necessary in order to win the wars. These kinds of colorful posters with easy tasks one could commit to in order to help started an era and industry that has now been used time and time again to draw people into a specific thing. Woman could not resist the fact that they could do something to help or gain independence, and they should not have. These posters caused a change that was needed in our country, but may have been hard to accomplish otherwise. Because of these, the posters caused a quicker and larger effect that was needed in the home front and overseas in order to carry on as a nation during war time and also win the war with as few setbacks as possible. Although not directly responsible for the efforts at home, their indirect influence on the population of this country, especially the women, is what continued to make this county work hard, even through the struggling times, all the way to the end of the wars. 

The World Wars of our past created times of shifting social roles and needs for the Country. With many men across overseas, woman had to take the responsibility of doing not only their jobs in life before, but the jobs that were now vacant or needed to help the United States win the wars. Many propaganda posters across the home front were focused on females for this same reason, so everyone knew to get involved. The dig for victory posters were a large one at the time, but now symbolize so much more than just a small vegetable garden in one’s backyard. It symbolizes the progress in society, that sadly had to be jump started by a horrific event like the Wars, ended with an unremarkable outcome that sparked women’s hopes and dreams into reality. 




