Story: Women’s movement

Girls can do anything

Girls can do anything

It made economic sense for women to break out of traditional, narrow occupational choices – ‘men’s work’ tended to be better paid and was more likely to offer the chance to build a business. It was generally more prestigious, and in some cases allowed more independence, than equivalent ‘women’s work’. By the mid-1980s, when this poster was produced by the government's Employment and Vocational Guidance Service, the idea of girls doing anything had become widely accepted.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: Eph-D-WOMEN-Glendining-Women-1985-01

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Megan Cook, 'Women’s movement - Health, fertility and education', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/ephemera/27921/girls-can-do-anything (accessed 19 March 2024)

Story by Megan Cook, published 5 May 2011