Essay On I Stand Here Ironing

In the 1950’s, women were working and being transformed into the American housewife, while their husbands went off to corporate careers. In Ingalls and Johnson, women were said to have careers however, could only succeed at “motherhood substitute jobs” such as teaching, nursing, administrative assistive, and social work (I&J, 51). This culture portrayed woman as only being capable of household jobs. When looking for the perfect suburban home, General Electric said women would head straight for the kitchen because this was where she would be spending most of her time. General Electric’s Wonder Kitchen made it even easier for women to save time, space, and work, allowing for wives to have more leisure time. The Chase & Sanborn advertisement reinforces the culture of women having to do everything to please their husbands. The picture on the ad depicts a man spanking his wife across his lap because she disappointed him with flat and stale coffee. Not only are women conforming to this domestically pleasing life style, but men also had

Referring to the late 1920s and early 1930s, women were seen as the common housewife. This image was depicted across many media platforms. The customary role of women, was to be in charge of running the household. This included polishing, vacuuming, dusting, dishes, laundry and other tasks which needed to be maintained on a weekly or daily basis. It became a full day workload, keeping her constantly busy as if she were employed. It was required for the women of the household to be prepared for anything her husband or family desired. Housework was typically expected to only include maintenance, however, this was not the case. Cooking, cleaning, and overall upkeep was all to be completed by the wife, while the man of the house brought in the money.

Women were expected to do so much but at the same time so little. They had no power to do what they desire because men had all the power to control them. Society had an expectation of how women were supposed to act. For instance, Mary’s father cared for his sons education he wanted them to know how to read, write, and to do sums, as for his daughters he only cared that they knew how to read and sew. That is the basic that women were allowed to learn it was not important for them to know more since all they were going to work for is taking care of children. Here is an example, “…Gender roles within those families the reinforcement of gender ideals such as “helpmeet” and “notable housewife” by religious and civil authorities, and the simple

Compared to the present day, women who lived in earlier time periods were treated poorly. Women were looked at as being less than a man, and often times didn’t even have the same basic rights as a man. A man was the boss of the house and what he said went. Women were expected to obey their husbands, and do as they are told when it came to household jobs. Men were often times controlling in marriages, doing things that would seem immoral to couples today. In the stories “The Yellow Wallpaper,” “The Story of an Hour,” and “Barn Burning” there were controlling male figures that displayed some of the traits listed above.

In the sixteenth century the role of women in society was very limited. Women were generally stereotyped as housewives and mothers. They were to be married, living their life providing for her husband and children. The patriarchal values of the Elizabethan times regarded women as the weaker sex.’ Men were considered the dominant gender and were treated with the utmost respect by females. Women were mainly restricted within the confines of their homes and were not allowed to go school or to university, but they could be educated at home by private tutors. Men were said to be the ones to provide for their families financially. Women were often seen as not intelligent. Property could not be titled in the name of a female within the family. Legally everything the female had belonged to her husband. Poor and middle class wives were kept very busy but rich women were not idle either. In a big house they had to organize and supervise the servants.

Taking a look into the ways of her household solidified the fact that housewives were set apart from their counterparts because of their responsibilities. Their knack for multi-tasking and running a home efficiently was never held to very high standards. Now, with a look into these three women’s homes, it seems that everyone should take with them the notion that no matter the woman’s wealth or social status, her work in the home is pivotal to the success of her family.

To Wollstonecraft, not educating females in the same manner as males is the greatest set back to women. Female education would help level the playing field between women

Women working men’s jobs were not as welcomed in society as they were in factories. People held on to the belief that women should be house wives and not have to do much in the way of work. The man should provide for the family, and the women should take care of the family. Many of the women who worked were lower class and had to help provide for their families, or were the only providers for their families. Women who worked men’s jobs were looked down upon and thought to be no better than dirt. Although women working in factories were still women, men did not show them the same respect as they did a woman working as a secretary or teacher.

Society has told us for the last hundreds of years that the woman’s job around the house as shown in Figure 1 is to cook, clean, and take care of the family. One man, Tom Junod, who

1. The first essay clearly shows the impact that an ideology of domesticity on women in New England in the 1830’s. The writer at first calls this time period a “paradox in the “progress” of women’s history in the United States”. During this time apparently two contradictory views on women’s relations to society clashed, unusually, those two being domesticity, which essentially limited women, giving them a “sex-specific” role that they must abide to, this mostly being present at the home with their husbands and whatever kids they may or may not have had at that time, and feminism, which essentially tried to remove this domesticity, trying to remove sex-specific limits on women’s opportunities and

This shows that women are starting to earn the respect of the men. Document E shows the point of view of a woman named Mercy Otis Warren in 1805. She admits that there are "certain appropriate duties to each sex" but still believes that one sex should not have complete power over the other. She states that although there are evident differences between men and women, every human should be able to have their own degree of freedom and liberty. Once the women began to have jobs, they realized that they were depending too much on what the men were telling them to do, when they knew that could take things into their own hands. This is shown in document L when Catherine E. Beecher makes suggestions on the way the women should teach in 1829. She says that the men believed the women should be teaching the children at home their morals, meaning what is right from wrong, and also their manors, and values. Catherine E. Beecher says that the women can teach this in the school rather than at home. She says now since the women finally can get jobs, they are still taking too many orders from the men. She thinks that they should just do this because it will benefit both the women and the children. Documents F, E, and L all show how the attitude of women changed from the mid to late 1700's to the early to mid 1800's.

women's lives changed by gaining independence. In the 1800’s education was only allowed to men. Education for women was not allowed during this time. Women that attended schooling were looked down upon. Women had to “train” the children their role of life.

In the 18th century wealthy families invested in their sons education, however the only purpose women served was to learn how to be suitable wives. A women that was well educated was strange, and not suitable for marriage. Puritan women in the Massuhtushes bay colony could not participate in ordinary town meetings. They were viewed as instruments of Satan, and the children belonged to their father. If any child was disobedient he/she could receive ten lashes. Hum! What does this remind us of. Married women where not allowed to posses property, sign contracts, or conduct business. If widowed as well as not remarried they could own property, and conduct business. Women found guilty of immodest dressing where

During this time families did not believe that women needed to be educated. Instead they felt that education should be acquired only for womanly purposes, such as fulfilling

What do Betty from "Pleasantville," June from "Leave it to Beaver," and Donna Reed from "The Donna Reed Show" all have in common? They all represent the image of the perfect housewife in the 1950s. They represent women who gladly cooked, cleaned, dressed in pearls and wore high heals while waiting for their all-knowing husbands to come home. They represent women who can only find fulfillment in male domination and nurturing maternal love. Tillie Olsen, as a single mother with four children (204), provides readers with another view of women. Through the representation of the narrator in I Stand Here Ironing, Olsen contradicts the image of the 50s ideal woman, a happy housewife and a perfect mother.