The First-Wave Feminism Movement

First-wave feminism arose during 1918 – 1968, paving way for a number of inaugural achievements for the women’s movement in the political sphere. Though legislation may change overnight, personal attitudes do not. I therefore argue media, due to its ever-changing nature and ability to reach a mass audience, is the main cause in constructing changes in attitudes through the way in which certain social groups, in this case women are represented through the platforms of news, propaganda, advertisement and film in Britain. All of which often represent women in a less than satisfactory or unreflective manor between 1918 and 1968. Examples taken from each platform feature content that distorts women’s status in society through representation and
(Tuchman, 1979, P. 531)

1918 came with two significant shifts contributing to the attitude towards women’s and, therefore their representation in British media. 1918 saw the end of the First World War and the end of the women’s suffrage movement resulting in the vote for those over 30. Considering the periods of both World War 1 & 2 simultaneously in terms of media during this time, heavy emphasis was placed on propaganda in order to drum up national pride among men, who would be on the frontline and women, who would support both their men and their country on home soil. Women’s representation during this time could be seen in a ‘two sides of a coin’ kind of sense as “Propaganda posters in WW1, and videos in WW2 tended to depict women as guardians of the home, their gentle nature and vulnerability making them both objects of men’s affections and victims of the enemy’s act, and yet also as resilient, active participants in the war effort”. Portraying women as vulnerable, weak and in need of protection
Britannia is a woman (1940) an informative video, showed a range of different British women, old and young working in a variety of different fields contributing to the war effort, and thus changing perceptions. However still represented women in a conventional homemaker role in terms of cooking. “In this hour of need, she is willing to share the burden” “For an army must be fed, and women must cook, so men may fight”. Comparing these two quotes from the Britannia is a Woman, it is clear that women’s representation in this particular video is mixed. On one side it shows the war as a collective effort between both genders through the words “share the burden”. Imaginary featured the roles in which the women occupied included working in munitions abolishing the idea of women being seen as weak, fragile and having no place in areas considered “ a mans place’, due to their efforts in terms of operating heavy machinery and working long tiresome hours. However focusing on the second quotation, there is a conventional emphasis the ‘wifely woman’ figure who, “simply needed to deliver the three Cs: cooking, cleaning and children” (Paul, 2002, P. 58). This video features another side to women’s representation in a more conventional sense as it shows