Around the 1950’s and 60’s, the stereotype of the American housewife became the preferred fodder for female entertainers and comedians. Entertainers like Lucille Ball and Phyllis Diller challenged ideas about societal gender roles, as well as female humor in general. The 1950’s brought with it a wave of innovative technology, economic opportunities, emerging entertainment genres, and new understandings of the roles of women in the household. With the addition of helpful, new machines such as the washing machine, vacuum, and ironing board to the home, it might initially be assumed that these devices would have lessened the workload of the American housewife. However, the creation of such technology introduced an entirely new concept of “cleanliness” …show more content…
to the general public which inevitably created more work for the average housewife. In an effort to uphold the generally accepted ideals that defined a “suitable” 1950’s lifestyle, the majority of women stayed in their homes cooking, cleaning, and serving as the sole caregiver to their families.
Changes in the larger societal culture affected the duties and responsibilities of women as well as the values that were associated with the proper roles of women.
Lucille Ball is a quintessential example of a 1950’s celebrity who challenged the idea of the “perfect all-American housewife” through her humor, specifically through her role in the widely-acclaimed television show, I Love Lucy. In the show, Lucy’s character greatly defies typical gender roles of 1950’s women by holding various jobs, openly defying her husband Ricky on several occasions, and even cross-dressing at certain points. It is clear that Lucy did not fall into the mold of an ideal
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homemaker for this time period, but she also didn’t seem to care that she didn’t fit this mold which created new ways of thinking about the roles of women solely as homemakers. Most Americans were still willing to accept her strong, independent female character regardless of traditional societal values as evidenced through the show’s huge audience and general success throughout the country. And despite the show’s contradictions of the generally accepted societal standards, I Love Lucy’s popularity remained high, which perhaps suggests a slight inclination of the American public to accept women in new positions. In one episode, Lucy and her best friend Ethel end up switching roles with their husbands by taking jobs in factories while the men stayed at home to do the housework which certainly defied the duties of men and women at the time. But by employing a comedic approach, Lucy is able to present different ideas of gender roles in a way that didn’t feel so controversial. By showing women asserting their independence and working for themselves in this episode, Ball sends a message of equal rights and financial freedom to American women which covertly influenced the greater society and ultimately politics in general. With so few women in the workplace, Lucille Ball stands out as a great example of a woman who managed to achieve great success by serving as something other than a mother or housewife. Only about 40% of women between the ages of 16 and 24 were a part of the labor force in 1950 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1999) and were also more likely to be in lower level or less authoritative jobs. America during this time was almost exclusively a man’s world, but Lucy challenges this stereotype yet again through her wildly successful professional career and the lead role she had in creating the show entirely. Ball made significant strides in the name of women in her personal life in that she was the first woman to ever become the head of a production company and also successfully manage and create an entire television show. With Ball at the helm, I Love Lucy never dipped below third place in the ratings (TV Guide, 1953) and would never have become the success that it was without her revolutionary nontraditional female character and the willingness of viewers to accept Lucy in these non-customary roles. Phyllis Diller was a pioneer in stand-up comedy and was one of the first female comics to become a household name. With her self-deprecating style of humor, Diller confronted female gender roles through her satirical performances on the television series The Homely Friendmaker in 1952 where she would offer absurd “advice” to homemakers. Much of Diller’s work involved questioning ideas about female roles and many of her jokes were “extremely hostile towards husbands, children, families, the rigid role of housewives and female suppression in general” (Martin & Segrave 309). Phyllis also had a number of ‘stock characters’ that she often relied on to make fun of husbands, mothers and housewifery in general, the most famous of those being her fictitious husband, Fang. And although Fang’s character can be seen as a way of making fun of men, Diller was ultimately making fun of the women who marry these men. Diller served as a catalyst of societal change by humorously highlighting the absurdities of this 1950’s lifestyle which in turn highlighted the real absurdities in the actual lives of her female viewers. Her humor resonated with women because of the underlying truth behind it and because she was daring to say the things that they wished they could say themselves. Known as the “first lady of comedy,” she shattered the glass ceiling of the male-dominated field of stand-up. Her career and comedic social advocacy paved the way for future prominent women in comedy such as Joan Rivers, Roseanne Barr, and Ellen Degeneres who all credit her influence to their own methods of comedy. Diller also had a sizable gay following and was often iconized in the gay community. She was also one of the first celebrities to openly support plastic surgery, which earned her recognition by the industry. Evidence of how Phyllis Diller’s biting wit and harsh yet truthful depictions of the world around her were in fact successful in persuading the world at large can be seen through the inspiration she brought to the three aforementioned comedians as well as countless other women across the nation. The 1970’s ushered in a new era for female comics and entertainers.
The Feminist Movement had been gaining in popularity, thanks in part to Betty Friedan's book, The Feminine Mystique, published in 1963, and the establishment of the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966. More women were being educated and entering the workplace, often into once male-dominated fields. Despite this, only a few female stand-up comedians gained national recognition, and those who did were regulated to making mostly self-deprecating jokes. Still, these women marched onward, challenging cultural norms and questioning gender roles with their
comedy. Joan Rivers tops the list of the self-deprecating female comics who transitioned into television. After a brief appearance in the play Driftwood in the late 1950’s, Joan began her career in stand-up comedy in various clubs in New York City. She got her big break when she appeared on The Tonight Show, soon becoming a regular guest. She also frequently appeared on other variety and talk shows, such as the Ed Sullivan Show. Rivers was known for her brutal attacks on not just herself, but women in general, particularly famous women. She was the queen of brutal one-liners about famous women, targeting society’s obsession with body image and a male-defined understanding of femininity.
Some historians have argued that 1950s America marked a step back for the advancement that women made during WWII. What contributed to this “return to domesticity” and do you believe that the the decade was good or bad for women?
Such is the case with the actress Lucille Ball most known for the hit I Love Lucy and
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
...re involved in the male’s productive task. It was the mother’s role to teach her children how they should behave, the cultural trends and social values. Women taught their young ones the social skills and cultural forms and norms in order to get along with society and guided them on how should they behave not only in the household but in the larger community. Women brought up the children who represented the future of the household and society.
The Cult of Domesticity is an offensive gesture; however in the 1950s’ there was validity this gesture. The rise of feminism has created a society in which there are more single mothers than ever before, long side more children born out of wedlock. The United States Census Bureau states, “During the 1960-2016 period, the percentage of children living with only their mother nearly tripled from 8 to 23 percent and the percentage of children…” (1). The article the Cult of Domesticity indeed points out the valid flaws of Ideal duties/expectations of domesticity in the 1950s’; however, I would like to state that anything man-made idea or material mechanism is not without faults. The agreeable points of the list were that there should be a genuine respect and act of service shown to our husbands each day. However, the list made a hard-left turn in suggesting that women are not to question the motives of their husband, and/or the location of their husbands if they chose to be late after work. Lastly, if husbands choose to
The social perception of women has drastically changed since the 1950’s. The social role of women during the 1950’s was restrictive and repressed in many ways. Society during that time placed high importance on expectations of behavior in the way women conducted themselves in home life as well as in public. At home the wife was tasked with the role of being an obedient wife, caring mother, and homemaker. Women publicly were expected to form groups and bond over tea with a slice of cake. All the while government was pushing this idealize roll for women in a society “dominated” by men. However, during this time a percentage of women were finding their way into the work force of men. “Women were searching their places in a society led by men;
Aunt Rosana’s Rocker As times change, everything changes with it. The roles that women take on have changed in certain cultures, but in some cultures they have remained the same. Before, men were treated with more respect and superiority, while women had no voices or say in the events that took place in their society. Today, there are situations where men are taken more seriously than women, but slowly, women are being treated with respect and play an active role in their community and have involved themselves within their community. In certain cases the roles never change because the people do not change along with the society.
The 1960s provided a reality time of suppressed females and overindulgent males within the society spectrum. Yet the nostalgia aspect of this manifests in the idea of the perfect housewife and the graci...
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.
“Women’s roles were constantly changing and have not stopped still to this day.” In the early 1900s many people expected women to be stay at home moms and let the husbands support them. But this all changes in the 1920s, women got the right to vote and began working from the result of work they have done in the war. Altogether in the 1920s women's roles have changed drastically.
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
I Love Lucy is a conservative sitcom that does not tend to stray away from the gender norm, episodes in which Lucy tried to get onto her husbands show was seen in the best light and were met with critical scrutiny. As Lucy attempted to transcend her subordinate status, fails and is then swiftly brought back to the world of domesticity. Patricia Mellencamp stated in her analysis of unruly women of sitcoms that “ Lucy’s plots for ambition and fame narratively failed, with the result that she was held, often gratefully, to domesticity, performatively they succeeded”. Although the show appears to stick to the status quo, the repetition of her attempts to assert autonomy and escape the world of domesticity gave a voice to the frustration of the middle class housewife. The repetition of Lucy’s desire to escape from her role as a housewife, gives emphasis to the desire.
The conclusion of this essay is that there are four prime factors that construct gender role in today’s society. They include our family, society, educational systems and self conscious. There are other cultural products that affect the gender within these four. category. The.
Since I was a little girl, my mother always made it clear that a husband was unobtainable if a woman could not properly tend to his needs. I learned how to cook, how to clean, how to do laundry, and I even learned how to take care of my younger siblings all because, according to my mother, these responsibilities were a woman’s duty; it was her job. For centuries, this has been the mindset for every woman, which has been passed down from generation to generation. A stereotype that has influenced a culture and defined a human being. In this 1930’s Kellogg’s PEP Cereal advertisement we witness yet another stereotype defining women into this sexist housewife persona. Through the use of clothing and appearance, text and audience the ad conveys
More and more women work outside and inside the home. The double demands shouldered by these women pose a threat to their physical health. Whether you are an overworked housewife or an exhausted working mother the chances are that you are always one step behind your schedule. No matter how hard women worked, they never ended up with clean homes. Housewives in these miserable circumstances often became hysterical cleaners. They wore their lives away in an endless round of scouring, scrubbing, and polishing. The increased strain in working women comes from the reality that they carry most of the child-rearing and household responsibilities. According to social trends (1996), women always or usually do the washing in 79 percent of cases and decide the menu 59 percent of the time. Picking up the children at school or doing grocery shopping are just a few of the many typical household-tasks a woman takes on every day.