There's a man-size job for you in your Navy. Enlist in the WAVES
Navy recruiting poster for the women's reserve: a WAVES officer in uniform looks into the distance, with a darkened scene of a warship, aircraft and anti-aircraft bursts behind her. The banner calls the work a 'man-size job'. The technique is transfer: the battle imagery lends its weight to the enlistment, with a general appeal to duty.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Navy (artist John Falter, USNR)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Recruit
- Themes
- War and the military, Gender and suffrage, Home front
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
U.S. Navy (artist John Falter, USNR). National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-247 (NAID 513689).
Text on the object
THERE'S A MAN-SIZE JOB FOR YOU IN YOUR NAVY ENLIST IN THE WAVES Apply to your nearest NAVY RECRUITING STATION OR OFFICE OF NAVAL OFFICER PROCUREMENT [on cap: U.S. NAVY] [signature: JOHN FALTER USNR] [imprint: ORDER NO. 22] [imprint: NRB-35526-4-6-43-68M]
