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Rosie the Riveter: Working Women and World War II

Magazine War Guide

The more women at work the sooner we win! Women are needed also as [...] See your local U.S. Employment Service. 1943. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

The Magazine War Guide is a fascinating, primary source example of how media was used strategically by the government to spread messaging about the war. A brief glimpse of the topics from the December 1942 issue included appeals for practical help (save your tin, salvage kitchen fats) while other categories were more serious or theoretical, for example: the suggestion that magazines could use the philosophy of "toughening up" for war-time as their underlying editorial philosophy.

Here's an excerpt from June-July 1943:

The big message for women magazine readers on the important subject of the womanpower drive is This means YOU. It is high time that the housewife, patriotically cooperating with her Government in conservation, salvage, War Bond and Stamp buying...begins to understanding that the invitation to women to go to work outside their homes means the woman who has not worked in a paying job before. (And time her husband begins to understand it, too!)"

Magazine War Guide, March 17, 1943.

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