Catalogue Number
NMLH.2023.87.11
Object Name
Poster
Title
The Model Family Plan
Date
1985
Description
The Poster Collective was a collective formed in 1971 at the Slade School of Art,  a group formed to initially produce posters in response to the miners strike and on the wars in both Vietnam and Ireland. It was formed on the basis of developing a coherent visual style, which addressed the political issues of the time. This included the armed struggles against colonialism in Africa, the struggle of women for equal rights and the continuing struggle against racism. The collective was active in the 70's and 80's, producing posters on a wide range of issues, including for educational purposes. The group was not-for-profit and used a variety of hand-printing techniques to create their posters. Between Future and Past
A set of posters looking at the ideological and economic structures underlying the unequal position of women in society at different junctures in history from feudalism to present. It also shows points at which women have fought to change existing social relations. This is the eleventh poster in the series and is titled "THE MODEL FAILY PLAN" with a black and yellow background and images of a woman and children. The text from the Beveridge Report makes up the background of the illustration. Smaller text reads: "The welfare state has always been closely connected with the development of the family, acting to reinforce and support it in significant ways. In this sense it is as much of a set of ideas as well as services. Welfare provisions help to maintain women's primary role as reproducers of the workforce, depsite the fact that women make up a significant percentage of the paid workforce. The development of the welfare state (shaped by the Beveridge Report) was part of the post-war
restructuring which was made to ensure high employment and 'social peace'. The public sevrices: schools, hospitals, social security payments, subsidised housing and transport, social assistance, etc. were seen to be a part of the income of families. Immigration from the colonies was encouraged in order to fill many of the low paid jobs in the public service sector. Because of their position in society, black women had to face forms of oppression based on sexual, racial, and class discrimination that post-war capitalism was dependent upon."
