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Explain the role of women in 1950s American society
Explain the role of women in 1950s American society
Gender inequality in the 1950
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In the 50s life for women is not easy, women are treated in society like they don’t matter, society treat them like they are only good for staying in the house and cook, clean, and take care of the kids. They are expected to be a caring mother, a diligent homemaker, and a obedient housewife. Women are expected to stay home and nurture so that society would accept them. Women cannot vote and are pressured to stay home and not work, and when they do work outside of the house they get paid little to no money. Life for women in the the 50s is not fun. Women receive very little say and respect in society. Women are expected to stay home and be the perfect housewife, they cook food, take care of their children, clean, and clothes. Women have to make sure to prepare a warm and delicious meal for their husbands to eat after a long day at work, this is seen a …show more content…
They don't have to go out and look for a job to support their children because their husbands will do that. Some women might like living in the 50s because they don't have to work and all their expectation is to cook, clean, and take care of their house and their husbands. Some women might want those expectations and will be happy to stay in the house and take care of their husbands. Some women might like to live in the 50s and not do all the work that men do. In the 50s life for women is not easy, women are treated in society like they don’t matter, society treat them like they are only good for staying in the house and cook, clean, and take care of the kids. They are expected to be a caring mother, a diligent homemaker, and a obedient housewife. Women are expected to stay home and nurture so that society would accept them. Women cannot vote and are pressured to stay home and not work, and when they do work outside of the house they get paid little to no money. Life for women in the the 50s is not
With the beginnings of the cold war the media and propaganda machine was instrumental in the idea of the nuclear family and how that made America and democracy superior to the “evils” of the Soviet Union and Communism; with this in mind the main goal of the 50’s women was to get married. The women of the time were becoming wives in their late teens and early twenties. Even if a women went to college it was assumed that she was there to meet her future husband. Generally a woman’s economic survival was dependent on men and employment opportunities were minimal.
For a long time ago, women just did anything at home: clean the house, wash clothes, cook the meals, and work outside the house and nutrient their children. Then they followed to order from their husband at home, and listen to the words of their husband. In addition, they made many little things in the military: wash clothes, serve the meals, and fix the clothes. The next things that it was convinced me when women had their own value in society. They began to raise their own worth and sense of themselves to build their country even though no one explained to them. People can consider that they endured very much but they did not still accept
Like stated earlier, gender roles in the 50’s were very strict and narrow-minded. That being said, women were extremely limited in their role in society. First of all, women were expected to be homemakers. By homemaker, I mean the women w...
The era of the 1950s was an iconic era in American history. The American dream of freedom, self empowerment, and success was growing. After world war 1, the ideals of american culture changed. The country saw the aftermath of the war in the countries of western Europe where communism was beginning to take hold, and the U.S tried to be the opposite. Marriage was propagated to be the opposite of the war torn families across the world, where women were working in factories and children fending for themselves with no home. The American “nuclear family” strived to be one where the father supported his family, the wife stayed home and provided for her children. Family became a national priority, and women were taught that a happy marriage and home
Women in the sixties were very limited on what they did. A woman was expected to marry in her twenties, and then start a family with her husband. A woman’s main duty was to raise her children, and focus on the home. Author Stephanie Coontz states in her book about sixties women, “The women is not to expect a whole lot out of life. She is someone’s keeper she is her husband and her children’s keeper.” (Coontz, 42) Back in those days, the husband was the head of the household; he made all of the decisions. If there was a divorce to take place the wife would end up with nothing, all the husband’s earnings and property belonged to the husband.
Due to the idealization of domesticity in media, there was a significantly stagnant period of time for women’s rights between 1945 and 1959. Women took over the roles for men in the workplace who were fighting abroad during the early 1940s, and a strong, feminist movement rose in the 1960s. However, in between these time periods, there was a time in which women returned to the home, focusing their attention to taking care of the children and waiting on their husband’s every need. This was perpetuated due to the increasing popularity of media’s involvement in the lives of housewives, such as the increasing sales of televisions and the increase in the number of sexist toys.
also managed to prove that they could do the jobs just as well as men
The fifties era was an era of consensus and order. As a family, there was a certain image to live up to in order fit into the American dream; however, a family only had to appear American and while it may be argued that Doris Goodwin succeeded in life because she grew up in a typical household in the fifties, that is not the case, and in fact, Goodwin’s life in the fifties did not live up to the stereotypical idea of the fifties time period. The image of being American during the fifties was based on consensus which was seen through the typical American neighborhood. All families were religious, the dads went to work while the moms stayed home and the children were at school, and each family had a favorite baseball team; however, it was not the idea of consensus that allowed Goodwin to succeed in life. (Anderson Class note, “Life at Home in the 50’s” 3 April 2014; Anderson Class notes, “Book Discussion” 8 April 2014)
There is a huge difference between life in the United States as it is today and in the 1950s/1960s. The greatest change is the way in which people lived back then verses how they live today and there are many things that influence these changes. For example, after World War II ended, there was a large increase in childbirth throughout the United States. As a result of this, many Americans moved to the suburbs in hopes of a better life. This would create not only more job opportunities, but some leisure as well. There also has been a significant change in the roles that both men and women played in society in the 1950s/1960s verses today. For instance, women are no longer looked upon as just a “House Wife”. Back in the 1950s/1960s, after a woman started a family her main job was to take care of the household while the men
During the 1950s the American Dream for women was to not fall short in the male-dominant society. Women wanted to enter the paid work force to help support their family and no longer rely on their husbands for their every need. Even though the overall American Dream was to be wealthy, to support a family, and to have a job; people wanted to be really wealthy without doing work. Families during this time period were materialistic and just wanted what everyone else had. The 1950s were when “…over 6 million women went to work for the first time in their lives… women were afterward criticized for destroying the American family” (Gillespie 3). In previous years, up until 1945, women stayed at home caring for their families
In the 1960’s women were still seen as trophies and were beginning to be accepted into the work industry. They were still homemakers, raised the family, and made sure their husbands were happy. That was the social norms for women during that time period. They were not held to high work expectations like men were. But something amazing happened that would change women 's lives for centuries; it was the 1970’s. The 60’s put the equality movement in motion but 70’s was a time of reform where women were finally able to control their own paths. Not only was the 70’s a historical marker for the fiftieth anniversary for women suffrage, it was also a marker for the drastic change of different social norms, the changes of the American Dream, and the
Women’s role in society during the 1950s is altogether different from their role in society today. The role of women then was restricted and minted. Women were presumed to perfect certain roles. Such roles include being a caring mother, hard-working housewife and compliant wife. This perfection was not an individual’s personal goal but was done to meet and exceed society’s standards. Raising the upcoming generation was significant at this time which made woman work hard to “fill the oversized shoes prepared for them” (Coob, 2005, para. 11). A prime example of a woman who endured this would be Sylvia Plath/ Esther Greenwood. Esther’s sense of indifference from the world around her derived from presumptions that had been piling up on her as a
In the 1950s, women comprised less than one third of the labor force (Berger, 4) (See Appendix B). Women had their place in the workforce, yet it was not very influencial. Women had to fight to hold their positions while confro...
In the 1950s, the stereotypical female was expected to fill a role that was awfully repressive and constrictive. Many standards were placed on women
During the 1950’s and 1970’s the greatest change for women was politically due to the fact that women were given more privileges. Women had wanted to become equal to men for so long and now they had their chance to become the same.