Can the Use of History in Propaganda Prevent Progress?

"Just as the servicewoman represented civilian patriotism, so did the housewife, both historical and contemporary, stand for what made America strong: the family. Viewing history as a linear progression, propgandists during the war located the family in a specific historical context that encompassed both the essentialist belief in a woman's biological destiny to be wife/mother and the protrait of America as advancing force of civilization." (Remembering Rosie, pg 100)



Propaganda was used thoroughly to break women into the workforce when it was needed during wartime, however, recalling the Victorian idea of the Republican Mother, propaganda was utilized at the end of the war to put women back in the home and resume their function as consumers (although first and foremost caretakers/homemakers) rather than earners.

What are the implications of utilizing ideologies of eras gone by? Does propaganda truly have the power to prevent progress? By focusing on women as Republican Mothers, and intending to revert these newly independent women back to this ideal, don't women take a step back before moving forward for equal rights? Could propaganda such as this be at least partly responsible for the still present inequalities between men and women?