1950's Cartoon Analysis

Prior to World War II, many women were unemployed, due to the Great Depression which had started a decade before. With men always getting preference for jobs, there were very few jobs left for women. Consequently, not only were many occupations were reserved for men, but men were also paid wages up to five times higher for the same task as women. Some states also barred married women from holding jobs. However during World War II, America produced at an efficiency which was higher than ever. This meant that the women had an increasing number of jobs. Jobs in the public sector opened up. Since 1939, women progressively changed the idea of patriarchy and the cliché thinking of an average woman in the United States to be a wife and mother.

During the 1960’s, women represented about forty percent of America’s labor force. Women have typically received a median average wage three-fifths that of a male’s earnings. In the 1960’s, people justified paying women a lower wage using the excuse that a male’s societal role, as the main breadwinner, entitled him to a higher pay than a woman. Even if a woman and a man were performing the same job, a man would get paid higher simply because of his gender. Women began to realize the wage gender inequality, and began fighting for equal rights.

Women’s history in the United States has always been represented as a struggle for rights. Wealth and status were tied to either their fathers or husbands. In the early 1900s, women were afforded the traditional roles of society. The majority of women worked in the home. If they were of the 18% young or poor women, they also worked in factories as laborers, manufacturing items for the booming industrial revolution (U.S. Department of Labor, 1980). During this time period the workplace was not in compliance with current safety standards. There was no minimum wage yet, work conditions were horrible and they worked long hours, “In 1900, the average workweek in manufacturing was 53 hours,” (Fisk, 2003). Women took “pink

The treatment of the male gender role is altogether different from that of the female gender role, and this issue has turned out to be important. Gender roles were extraordinarily changed in the 1950s, with the men returning from war and taking their occupations back. Females had, throughout World War II, taken men’s occupations while they had been away at war. After the war, numerous women needed to keep their occupations. Instead, a considerable amount of them got to be spouses and moms as the men returned from the war. For example, the male spouses were away at work for most the day while the wives would need to do a decent measure of the manual work around the house. The type of chores could have been cleaning, cooking, or other tasks the female spouses handled. These adjustments in the home might not have been viewed as positive but rather they were for women. Ladies truly advanced in the fifties with finding new openings for work and discovering their place in the world. Therefore, two articles explain further in detail about the

As you know many things have changed since the 1960s and 1970s. For instance, women’s rights. Women rights have come a long way in education, work, family life, politics, and sports. But I am writing to remind you the importance in women’s work force. Women have always in a general manner…been under appreciated. It seemed however that sometimes needs made men realize or potential. You see during world war 2, nearly all women worked…this was directly related to the fact that men where away at war. Women worked both hard labor, and intelligent jobs. After they returned; women gave up their jobs and let men take over. Most women enjoyed the thought of a house life, but I don’t think most knew exactly what they were getting themselves into. Women

Robert L. Daniel, author of, American Women in the Twentieth Century, explains that women were being recruited to work in various jobs (122). Single women, ones that did not hold responsibilities to a husband or family were employed first and women that had families were taken only as a last resort (Daniel 123). Daniel further explains, "The nation's need permitted an expansion of women's economic role without it being perceived as a feminist threat" (123). What women could offer was now found as valuable and useful. The public opinion of women made a drastic turn around from their previous attitudes. The government and the media no longer looked down upon women for entering the work force, but gave much encouragement (Chafe, 134). In magazines such as "Lifetime" there were even advertisements promoting women to work.

During WWII, the two-breadwinner vision of the family suffered further setbacks. As May puts it, women entered war production, but they did not give up on reproduction..Economic hardship was no longer a barrier to marriage, as it had been in the 1930s, and dependents' allowances eased the burdens of families if the breadwinners were drafted. But perhaps most important was the desire to solidify relationships and establish connections to the future when war made life so uncertain. (May p.59-60) While the culture venerated female workers, it also promoted a return to domesticity after the war, a return encouraged by the gender bias of the GI Bill. Meanwhile, men were encouraged through pin-ups and propaganda to believe they were fighting for their own slice of the domestic, consumerist good life.

For example, almost all telephone operators in the U.S. were women and by 1920 office workers and telephone operators made up to 25% of the female workforce, while domestic servants were only 15%. A union leader named Abraham Bisno remarked that working gave immigrant women a sense of independence, “‘They acquired the right to personality’ something alien to the highly patriarchal family structures of the old country”. (Foner, 2010) Charlotte Perkins Gilman, in the book Women in Economics, wrote, “The spirit of personal independence in the women of today is sure proof that a change has come… the radical change in the economic position of women is advancing upon us… the growing individualization of democratic life bring inevitable changes to our daughters as well as to our sons… one of its most noticeable features is the demand in women not only for their own money, but for their own work for the sake of personal expression. Few girls fail to manifest some signs of the desire for individual expression…”.

After the death of woman works at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company became public knowledge, women were working towards receiving proper wages and expanding their employment options. By the 1920 around 25 precent of employed woman were office workers or telephone operators, 8 million woman working for wages, and one-quarter were married woman. The female work force no longer just consisted of young, single white woman. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman book Woman and Economics offered woman “evidence of a ‘spirit if personal independence’ that pointed to a coming transformation of both economic and family life. ”(Give

Before the war women had to fit into a stereotype of “the perfect family” (“A Change in”). Prior to 1941 only 30% of women worked for 10 years and only 50% worked for 5 years (Discovery Education). Women were encouraged not to work, because it broke “the perfect family” stereotype (“The Women of”) (“A Change in”). Even husbands did not want their

Society at this time did not view women as equals and the pay they received reflected this attitude. ?In 1939 male teachers made an average salary of $1,953 while female teachers were paid a mere 1,394; male social workers averaged $1,718 while their female counterparts received a salary of $1,442. There was an expectation that women worked until they married then their husband would support the family.? (Chafe, pg. 63) This attitude was seen in the salaries women throughout America received prior to and during the early part of the war in small communities and the United States Government.

With the rise of the modern age economic survival has become difficult for families based on a single income. This economic need along with modern attitudes toward gender equality has resulted in women being represented in the workforce in greater numbers. However, until the 1960’s women faced severe discrimination when trying to enter and maintain a position in the workforce. Often qualified women would be passed over for men with less experience and education. Employers were fearful that women were too emotional and were not equipped to handle the stress of the work environment. Also driving the decision to not hire or promote women was the concern over the additional health care expenses and leave time pregnant

Paid work for women moved from principally customary female-situated employments to all the more non-conventional and already male-arranged vocations. Ladies ' support in the workforce prompted them to start careers in the field dominated by male in the 20th century. Career yearnings were affected by elements, such as sexual orientation, financial status, race, occupation and instruction level, and parental desires. This paper exhibits how women developed, changed and the challenges they faced in the 20th century in America in the workforce and the advancement of ladies ' careers, improvement and profession goals during the 20th century in United States. Also, gender issues affecting women will be discussed in details during this period and how women played their role in fighting for their rights.

During the 1960’s, women were often regarded as little more than her husband’s housekeeper and cook. In 1963, women made approximately fifty-nine cents to every dollar a man in the same job made (Walsh). Frequently, women in the workforce could legally be fired from their job just for being pregnant, and most banks would not allow women a credit card unless it was signed under her husband’s name (McLaughlin). These forms of oppression in everyday life fostered a general need for change, and eventually sparked riots and protests. Inequalities in the workplace were a main source of dissatisfaction among women.

During this time, there were no words for the longing of women in articles that had been written by experts, for and about women. In which, equal rights seemed unattainable and/or distant. The average age of marriage was dropping into teens, the birthrate was increasing, the proportion of women attending college in comparison to men had dropped to 47 percent in the 1920 to 35 percent in 1958. Yet there was a continuing trend in the unhappiness of women. Contrary, American culture insisted that women could find happiness in marriage and the becoming of a housewife.