Women's War Work Exhibition
Designer
Designer Unknown
Date1942
Dimensions30 1/4 x 20 1/4 in. (76.8 x 51.4 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LinePoster House Permanent Collection
Object numberPH.9958
DescriptionThis poster, based on a simple appeal in black and eye-catching red text, also features a small, patriotic image of a woman munitions worker, sleeves rolled up, set against a roundel incorporating the Union Jack. The rather basic composition suggests that it was designed and printed at short notice for the promotion of a local event. It urges women, probably working-class Londoners from the city’s East End where it was printed, to attend an exhibition of women’s war work with a demonstration of munitions manufacture. British women had replaced men fighting at the front in dangerous munitions factories during World War I. During World War II, the British government mobilized the civilian population more effectively than any other nation and by 1944, according to the Imperial War Museum in London, one third of the civilian population was involved in war work. This figure included more than 7 million women. On View
Not on view
