abstract
| - The Chicago Tribune Syndicate launched the comic strip on September 20, 1920. The strip's premise was conceived by Joseph Medill Patterson, but the stories and artwork were by Branner, who had previously created two unsuccessful comic strips. The eponymous character Winnie Winkle was a young, unmarried woman who had to support her parents, making it the first popular comic strip about working women. It was a reflection of the new role of women in society, as could also be seen in comics like Tillie the Toiler from 1921. Writing for the Associated Press in 1993, Hugh A. Mulligan noted, "After women got the vote and joined the work force, family-centered comics were joined by working-girl strips like Winnie Winkle, Tillie the Toiler, Dixie Dugan, Somebody's Stenog and Brenda Starr, which was drawn by a woman, Dale Messick. Almost from the beginning, politics and a social conscience hovered over the drawing board."
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