Ronnie the Bren Gun Girl

Most people in North America are familiar with the iconic poster and persona of Rosie the Riveter. Rosie is still a significant cultural icon and representation of the many women who entered the workforce during the war years. Though Rosie represents real women, she herself is a fictional character that was, in part, based on Canada’s own working woman: Ronnie the Bren Gun Girl.

In 1941, the Canadian government teamed up with the National Film Board of Canada to create a campaign to draw more women into factories producing war material. They needed someone to be the face of women working in factories all across Canada. They decided on Veronica Foster, who was working for the John Inglis Co. in Toronto. They needed a catchy name for their new poster girl, and since Foster worked assembling Bren light machine guns, she was dubbed Ronnie the Bren Gun Girl. Ronnie was chosen because of her job and her beauty. The most famous image of Ronnie is one of her sitting in her overalls, hair covered, exhaling from her cigarette, and admiring the gun she just put together. Ronnie’s image was meant to emphasize femininity, while also promoting this new role that women were filling in the public sphere.

Ronnie was a popular figure during the war and after the conflict ended. Following the war, Veronica Foster became a singer and model. She is still remembered though, as a symbol of femininity and female liberation. Canada’s History Society explains that “Today, Ronnie the Bren Gun Girl represents an iconic moment in the ongoing fight for women’s equality in Canada.”

A major part of the Second World War on the Home Front was communication between the government and Canadians at home. The Canadian government was producing propaganda and other types of public messaging throughout the war to keep Canadians informed at home and abroad. This blog series will look at different types of propaganda and public messaging, mediums of communication, and home front organizations.