Four Years in the Fight: The Women of France. We Owe Them Houses of Cheer
Two French women in work clothes handle glowing metal in a foundry while a third carries a steaming vat, under a red-and-blue YWCA triangle emblem. The headline asks Americans to repay the women of France with 'houses of cheer', the YWCA's recreation huts, as part of the United War Work Campaign. The tell is transfer: the viewer's regard for the women's wartime labour is attached to a request for donations, with no sum or budget stated.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1918
- Period
- First World War
- Made by
- Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), United War Work Campaign
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- NGO
- Regime
- Wilson Administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Fundraise
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front, Gender and suffrage
- Event
- World War I
- Regime
- Wilson administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), RG 4 (U.S. Food Administration), World War I Posters (NAID 512439), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- NARA Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision
Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), United War Work Campaign. National Archives and Records Administration, 4-P-13.
Text on the object
FOUR YEARS IN THE FIGHT The Women of France We Owe Them Houses of Cheer [YWCA triangle emblem lettered Y.W.C.A., twice, at the top] [sign on the building seen through the window:] FOYER des ALLIÉS [with triangle emblem] [artist's signature at lower right of the picture: illegible] UNITED WAR WORK CAMPAIGN
The YWCA emblems are graphics lettered Y.W.C.A.; the window sign is read as 'Foyer des Alliés' (French, 'Allies' Hostel'). The artist's signature is illegible.
