This poster was created as American propaganda during the first World War in 1918.

In the early 20th-century traditional gender roles were still very prominent in America. It was the woman’s job to watch the children, take care of the house, and for men, it was their job to provide for the family. However, when sudden changes happen, such as a world war, these gender roles start to be put aside. The first world war began in 1914, but the United States did not enter until 1917, and as a result, many men joined the military and left their jobs at home. At this time, many women did not have jobs, and most women during this time period stayed at home taking care of the house and their children. However, many men joined the military and left their jobs, so there was a need for workers in America. Although the typical gender role for women was to stay at home, the need for work suppressed the typical gender role, and as result, women were called to work in typically male-dominant work fields.
The piece of history titled “Help! The Woman’s Land Army of America” was created in 1918 and was used as a poster to urge women to help the efforts at home. On the home front, women were being urged to join the civilian workforce, due to the need for workers. Women during World War I “contributed on the home front, replacing men in fields and factories and filling new jobs”. ((“Women and the Great War,” Hoover Digest, Spring, 2015))As more men joined the military, the need for women in different fields of work arose. On the home front, many women were extremely positive about helping out, and women at home did what needed to be done to help the fight. Not only did the war help women find jobs and help fight the war, but World War I helped the fight for equality between the genders.
Women in decades earlier barely worked, but now with the need for workers, many more women joined the workforce. Also, now because women were working in male-dominant fields they were able to join unions, “In 1910 only 1.5 percent (or 76,748) of women workers were unionized; by 1920 that figure was at 6.6 percent (396,900)”.((Lynn Dumenil, The Second Line of Defense: Women Workers and War (University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill 2017) )) As it is demonstrated by this quote, the amount of women in unions from 1910 to 1920 went up by 320,152 women, only within a ten year gap, which is a large increase over a short period of time. Although the women’s suffrage movement was already underway, the fact that more women were joining unions was a positive thing, because having more women in unions, means more women who work will be protected from the threat of losing their jobs. Especially in this situation, where the men went to war, so more women took male-dominated jobs, the threat of losing jobs was high for women. Pictured in the middle of this poster, words read “until the boys come back”. This is an extremely significant attribute in this poster, because the author wants to make sure women understand that this is only temporary, and when “the boys” come back from war, everything will go back to the way it was. Not only did the author feel this way about women joining the workforce while men were at war, society as a whole also saw this change as temporary.
Not only were women during this time period helping with war efforts by joining the workforce, but women’s groups helped raise money for the war and collect supplies for the war. For example, The New York State Women’s Suffrage Party “established a Patriotic Committee that oversaw the staffing of Red Cross workers in stores, collected money for the United War Work drive, sold $35,000 worth of war saving stamps, and donated hundreds of knitted garments”.((Susan Goodier and Karen Pastorello, The Great Interruption: World War I and Women’s Suffrage (Cornell University Press 2017) )) Women’s war efforts during World War I was extremely high, they joined the workforce to help, and they would collect money and donations as well.
When looking at this poster, it is clear that the creator of the poster wanted to urge women to join the war efforts at home. Looking at this historical source, it is clear at a first glance that the picture depicts Uncle Sam tipping his hat and shaking a woman’s hand. Also, all of the writing on this poster is in capital letters, which means the creator of this poster was trying to bring attention to the words which say “Help! The Woman’s Land Army of America”. It should also be noted that all of the lettering is in green, besides the words “Help”. This demonstrates that the creator of the poster wanted the word “Help” to be the first thing people notice on the poster because it is in all red and it is in the largest font compared to the other words. Also, behind the woman and Uncle Sam, in a blue outline shows what looks to be men in the army celebrating victory, because of the flags flying and the hats being taken off. It is clear, that the creator of this poster wanted people to notice the poster, because of the font size and coloring of the texts in the poster. Overall, during this time period, it is clear that women began to take on traditional male roles because men joined the army. Not only did this help with the war effort, but it also helped dismiss the traditional gender roles that existed in society. It is clear from this poster, that on the home front many women were urged to help.