Enlist with the MARVAs

This poster called on women to join the Marine Vrouwen Afdeling (MARVA), the female division of the Dutch navy. Its origins lay in the Second World War: as large numbers of Dutch men were sent into the Arbeitseinsatz (forced labour in Nazi Germany), women stepped into the jobs they left behind, fuelling a surge of emancipation in the years that followed. Whether placed in MARVA or in the army's auxiliary corps, the Vrouwen Hulpkorps van de Landmacht (VHK), they filled supporting positions and under the rallying line "free up a man for the fleet," MARVA personnel took on administrative, communications, and healthcare duties.