The One's That Come and The One's That Go: The Women of WWI
World War I (WWI) involved over 30 nations and major efforts of influence through newspapers, film, photographs, posters and ads. In the United States specifically, cooperation between the government and the people was needed for success in the war, sparking great patriotism and commitment from all people to the war. The defense of women, children, families, and honor all were convincing tactics to not go to war, but win the war. WWI was a test for "sex-role identities as 'true men' prepare to give up their lives and 'true women' prepare to give up their men" (Shover, p. 472).
WWI was at times, also referred to as the "poster war". Posters, a big influence of journalism through the war, illustrated women as symbolic figures used to gain wartime support.
Administrators of the war relied heavily on artists and print makers to illustrate calls to action. At that time, poster art was the most mass commercial medium. Printing technology was not only possible, but inexpensive, reliable, and easy to utilize to publicize the war in a great form of journalistic power.
Posters even began depicting women directly participating in service jobs. From the infamous "Rosie the Riveter", exclaiming "We Can Do It!", as women's wartime roles expanded more than ever before, so did the governments tactics on recruiting women outside of their homes.
About 2,000 women, between the ages of 18 and 35, enlisted as Navy volunteers by 1917, when the United States was fully submerged in the war. Just a year later, the number had risen to 11,000 women.
The "Hello Girls" of WWI are an important group of women, who connected over 150,000 calls per day at the war's height. They worked for the U.S. Army Signal Corps, and in a rare sight of gender equality at this time, were paid $125 dollars per month, the same as a male Signal Corps Soldier. They were, later, denied veteran status.
The war also created new opportunities for African American women. The woman ran hostess houses where many soldiers socialized, and listened to them speak. They played not only as a safe space or outlet for the soldiers, but cooked them home-cooked meals, and organized genuine and wholesome entertainment and maintained their shelter. Many of the women had brothers, fathers, and other family members drafted in the war or selflessly joined. Because of this, there was a great outpour of support from African American women to support the African American soldier population.
Addie W. Hunton and Kathryn M. Johnson, two African American women working in the war, returned home to the United States once the war had ended and co-authored the book Two Colored Women With The American Expeditionary Forces. In it, they described the heart wrenching, but real and genuine realities of their experience with the war.
“The contact with a hundred thousand men, many of whom it was our privilege to help in a hundred different ways; men who were groping and discouraged; others who were crying loudly for help that they might acquire just the rudiments of an education, and so establish connection with the anxious hearts whom they had left behind; and still others who had a depth of understanding and a breadth of vision, that was at once a help and an inspiration.”
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