Analysis: Domestic Humor And Redefining The 1950s Housewife Writers

“Governor Adlai Stevenson Tells College Women about Their Place in Life, 1955” is an excerpt from a Commencement Address at Smith College in 1955. The speaker tells of how women aren’t just house wives anymore. With men becoming more educated the wife must advance as well. He says that women should keep themselves and those about you straight “not to mention keeping you man straight on the differences between Botticelli and Chianti” (page 334). Basically women at this time were supposed to go to college so they could have intellectual conversations with their intelligent husband. He says, “Once they wrote poetry, now it’s the laundry list” (page 334). Women of this time period didn’t have their

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.

Women only worked in their homes caring for their family’s, they never had the opportunity to work outside of their homes in places such as factories or in the government and they had no benefits within the house until the war began. The war

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.

Although unfortunate for women, employers were able to pay lower wages and dismiss them if a man applied for the position. They also received minimal support from unions caused by concern that women would replace men in the workforce because they could be paid less. Despite being unfairly treated in the workforce, women had experienced an extent of freedom in society that would forever change how they were viewed. While men fought, women were also left with the emotional burden of waiting for their loved ones to return home, although many did not. This meant some women were left to raise and feed children as a single parent, whilst still supporting themselves. Those women’s husbands who did return, did not have it easier in any way. Predominance of men had injuries meaning women had to take care of them, whilst other men suffered depression, nightmares and trouble relating to previous civilian lives. Occasionally, this resulted in breakdown of marriage and family. In this regard, the war did not create a bright future for

America’s involvement in World War II created significant opportunities for American women on the home front. At the same time, it stirred conflict in the gender roles of Women during wartime. One of the main issues that dominated women’s lives during the war was balancing the role at home, with the new pressures placed on them due to the war economy. In most cases, the strides made regarding women’s rights during World War II were misleading, as policy makers used the female workforce for short-term assistance only. American Women faced varying experiences of life during World War II due to factors such as ethnicity and class largely affected the social implications of war. Nevertheless, the advances made by women during this time frame began a movement that would soon give empowerment to women throughout the country, inspiring independence and personal growth through the ways of unions, employment, and a change in traditional gender roles.

In the 1940s women were called upon to help the war effort and support their “boys overseas” by stepping into factory jobs, signing up as nurses, and assisting in any way they could. Women enjoyed some of their greatest independence in these years as they did their part to support their country. The end of World War II brought many changes to the American people and women in particular. As men returned home from war women were forced back out of the workplaces they had only recently occupied, to return to the home. Not everyone had a positive view of the newfound independence of the American woman as author Arnold Green scripted in a 1956 sociology video:

WWII changed the lives of depression-weary Americans across the country. After the country suffered through the Great Depression entering the war was the last thing on Americans minds. But as the war brewed overseas and grew closer and closer it became inevitable that America would have to get involved. As with most wars WWII offered expansion for women. Their duties and responsibilities at home expanded while their husbands were at war. Their roles in the workforce greatly increased. For the first time women were accepted into the military in an official capacity. WWII was one of the most important steps towards our present day state of gender

With the advent of the 1920s and the signing of the Nineteenth Amendment came a rapid movement toward women’s rights. It sped up with the beginning of World War II where six million women went to work in military factories, producing ammunition and other military goods for the sixteen million troops fighting abroad. The end of the war brought the realization that American women could work just as hard and efficiently as American men. Thus the idea of feminism was born. From here, the momentum continued before taking a hit with the loss of the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1980s. This only caused women to fight harder and soon a new generation of independent women arose in the early 1990s. Nowadays, self-sufficient women can be found

The lives of American women were significantly changed both in good ways and bad, during and after the era of World War II. Although World War II was, and still is today, considered an unforgettable tragedy, there were many benefits to the war because of the advantages it gave to women at the time. The war gave women the benefits of new occupational opportunities, fashion changes, and changes of views towards women. However, amidst all these benefits, their lives were affected in some bad ways as well, such as the cause of family life hardships, constant labor, and loss of occupations after the war.

During the World War II, women played a role in the industrial and military through the workforce, helping the United States in building the country while in War and support troops from the warfare fighting for the nation. After the World War II, women had to lose their jobs over the veterans back from the War. Women were seen as no skill workers, home moms, and housewives. Of all the beneficial of post war, none of them rewards to women since veterans took more than the fifty percent of the work force. In the 1940s and 1950s, women continued their march into the workplace since traditional feminine roles of homemaker and mother (AP, 832). In the post war, young men and women tight up after they got back from the war. Baby boom is the huge explosion from births to returning

In 1939 the role of women, especially those that were married, was to be in the home taking care of children and their men. When World War II began, women took on difficult roles in hopes of gaining knowledge of the workforce, thus competing with men to be equal. They worked hard to achieve the same equality and to earn the same pay as men for doing the same jobs. “American women entered the workforce in unprecedented numbers during World War II, as widespread male enlistment left gaping holes in the industrial labor force. Between 1940 and 1945, the female percentage of the U.S. workforce increased from 27 percent to nearly 37 percent,” (History.com Staff Rosie the Riveter)

When World War II rolled around men were not the only ones that were called to fight. Women too were enlisted with contributions to the cause. When there were no men left to work business owners began to recruit women. During World War II women proved to be vital in stepping up and taking over men’s jobs. Once the war was over most women were expected to go back to their place in society but there were some who were adamant about it. They had learned new and useful skills and enjoyed the independence working gave them. As men were being shipped out to fight in the battle fronts, women took over various jobs that were before endowed to men. The shortage of male laborers helped them take up jobs like switchboard operators,

Historically, wartime has always brought upon big changes for the lives of citizens in warring nations. Wars are often major points in a country’s history, catalyzing progression toward societal changes. In World War II, this was true for every nation involved. Specifically, America underwent many major changes in tradition after World War II ravaged the world. Although Americans did not experience firsthand the destruction of their homeland like their European counterparts, the events of World War II did drastically transform America. One of the most major changes brought to the U.S. by World War II was the change to women’s role in society. Traditionally, women in America were not seen as a group of people who were supposed to be working;

War time is not only hard on the soldiers surviving on the battlefield, but it is also very difficult for widowed mothers and wives, awaiting for their husbands to return from the war, who are having to gain employment and provide for their children economically and emotionally. During the year 1972, the amount of marriages began to decrease, as stated before, due to the high percentage of young men being drafted into the war. The high divorce rates were partly due to the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which demanded equal payment between men and women. The Equal Pay Act allowed men and women to possess high paying jobs and to support their family financially, and by passing this act, it only lightened the dependency placed on men to support their family. Many opportunities were opened for not only women, but also for ethnic minorities, and even children during the Second World War, this topic will be discussed more in-depth later in the essay. In current times, the known percentage of marriages ending up with a divorce has increased enormously; it has increased to around fifty-seven percent. These high percentages of divorces may have World War II to blame, but is it really a bad thing? No, it is not because due to the effects of World War II, women have made huge strides for equality and both sexes have undergone a sexual revolution