Jillian Brissette ’23
We Can Do It, Or Can We?: Women’s Domestic and Workplace Roles in Advertising During WWII and Postwar America
Jillian Brissette ’23, History major, Business & Innovation Minor
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Sharon Murphy, History and Classics
This senior thesis examines the advertising messages about women working from World War II to the postwar period. Despite the seemingly empowering image of Rosie the Riveter, advertisers carefully portrayed women’s war work as a temporary burden that would disappear as soon as victory was secured and they could return to their “normal” prewar domestic roles. Marketing campaigns carefully walked a line between encouraging women to fill critical industrial jobs without bringing about a permanent postwar change in gender roles. This domestic focus only intensified with the emergence of the Cold War and its focus on the model “nuclear” family.
Poster Presentation: Wednesday, April 26, 2 – 4 p.m.
